Fight against disease spread

The Ord Valley Aboriginal Health Service (OVAHS) is leading the battle against sexually transmitted infections in the East Kimberley.

As part of its push to stop the spread of disease it is conducting another awareness campaign in association with World Aids Day on December 1.

The East Kimberley has one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted disease in Australia and it usually increases by about 15 per cent at this time of year.

However, OVAHS male health worker David Batty, said last week that this year the message seemed to be getting through and there were less infections than in previous years.

He said that in February and March there had been a huge outbreak of syphilis but a combined effort between OVAHS and Community Health had controlled it.

Condom trees were set up at races, rodeos and a booth manned at the Kununurra Show.

The idea seems to have worked well with a substantial drop in new infections.

The one disease that hasn't struck the East Kimberley, as far as can be told, is aids and health workers aim to keep it that way.

A display and information booth will be set up at the Coles Shopping Centre in Kununurra tomorrow (Friday).

Presentation packs called Pure Male and Pure Female will be distributed.

The packs feature big cats on the outside.

The Pure Male pack is green and the Pure Female pack is orange.

The packs were developed in conjunction with the Aboriginal Health Service in Broome.

They contain such things as condoms.

David said there were a lot of young women becoming pregnant and this showed that many people were still ignoring warnings to use condoms.

He said these people must be made more aware of the dangers of unsafe sex.

David suggested people needed to be aware that aids was not a homosexual disease and it affected people from all walks of life.

Statistic from the mid 1990s showed that, while the region had only five per cent of the State's population, it had 50 per cent of the recorded sexually transmitted infections.

David said that with ongoing education programs, the statistic was being reduced, but this was no excuse for complacency.