Kiwis putting off STI checks, warn experts

in maintaining their sexual health.

‘‘I was really positively surprised by the number of people who had been tested before – just over 60 per cent – which is quite good,’’ Denison said.

‘‘Typically, females test a lot more than men, so that’s something that needs to be looked at.’’

She said that while it was tempting to focus on the people who delayed seeking healthcare, she believed more needed to be done to ensure people were informed about the options they had.

‘‘It might not be actual individuals’ behaviour. It could be that they just didn’t know where to go and so had to figure that out first.

‘‘In that case, it’s more on the healthcare system rather than the individual. It [the system] needs to be easily navigated and the information readily out there.’’

In New Zealand, young people are disproportionately affected by STIs, with 67 per cent of chlamydia cases and 57 per cent of gonorrhoea cases among people aged between 15 and 24.

In Auckland and Wellington, certain STIs – particularly syphilis – are at their highest recorded rate.

As rates continue to climb, Denison said further research was essential. She had put in a funding application to expand her work in the area, which she hoped might lead to better education across the board.

‘‘With sex education, it tends to be the worst possible pictures shown, so people think they’re fine but actually it can be way more mild than that. They should just put up a picture of nice, healthy genitals and say, ‘It could look like this, but you could still have an STI’.’’