New sexual health campaigns needed for women: study

A large-scale study has investigated the connection between
female sexual practices and STI rates for the first time.
Image: Centre for Sexuality

by Anne Crawford

A rise in sexually transmitted infection (STI) among Australian women in the past decade has prompted Monash University researchers to investigate the connection between female sexual practices and STI rates for the first time in women who have sex with women.

The large-scale study aimed to compare differences in sexual practices and positivity for STIs and other genital infections among women who have sex with men only (WSMO), women who have sex with women only (WSWO), and women who have sex with men and women (WSMW), and whether these changed over time. It included data on 36,147 women who attended the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) between 2011 and 2019.

Funds a welcome boost to sexual disease research

L-R: Dr Eric Chow, Prof Christopher Fairley and Dr Catriona Bradshaw
have won NHMRC grants for research programs to control STIs.
Prof Fairley is giving a public lecture on 17 Oct - all welcome! RSVP

by Anne Crawford

Central Clinical School researchers at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) have been awarded more than $6 million in the latest round of NHMRC grants – funds that will go towards researching programs urgently needed to fight rising levels of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Professor of Public Health at Monash University, Professor Christopher Fairley AO said rates of STIs such as syphilis and gonorrhoea in Victoria had risen relentlessly over the past 20 years.