Canary Islands is living a boom of sexually transmitted diseases following the trend that is repeated throughout Spain. In 2022, the Canary Islands detected more than 2,000 cases of different sexually transmitted infections (STIs), with chlamydia being the most common diagnosis. STDs have grown by 45% in just one year and have quintupled compared to 2016which confirms the spread of these diseases throughout the Archipelago, especially among the youngest who, according to experts, have stopped using protection methods, among other things due to the loss of fear of contracting HIV.
In the last year, the disease that has increased the speed of spread the most throughout the Islands has been gonococcal infection. Confirmed cases of gonorrhea have increased by 55%, going from 304 detected in 2021 to 474 in 2022, according to data provided by the Public Health Directorate of the Ministry of Health. This is followed by syphilis infections, of which 697 cases have been detected, 41% more than in 2021. But the one that takes the Palm are infections Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) that in 2022 accumulated 710 diagnoses, 31.9% more than the previous year and up to 11 times than just six years ago.
This exacerbated increase in STDs is occurring in parallel with a stabilization – and even decrease – of HIV infections. Today, the number of new HIV infections ranges between 200 and 250. However, during 2022, 193 cases were detected.
Behind these numbers is the success of the drugs, both in preventing the development of AIDS and in preventing infection (through pre-exposure prophylaxis). However, experts believe that this drop in infections, the chronic nature of the disease and the lower risk associated with it, has caused many young people to relax and barely use protection methods.
In 2023, condom use among young Canarians between 18 and 26 years old plummeted. If in 2019 89% of islanders said they used it in all their sexual relations, now only 39% carry out this protection practice to the letteras stated in the eleventh edition of the Barometer Spaniards and sex of the Control company. That is to say, six out of ten confess to not always using it.
A specific screening point
To try to detect this boom of sexual infections, the Canary Islands has launched a program screening pilot in health centers. There are four outpatient clinics, located in different points of Tenerife (Puerto de la Cruz, La Cuesta, San Isidro and Añaza) those who have implemented this innovative project to detect new infections without overloading the health system and guaranteeing better access to patients.
“It is helping patients who have doubts to be tested easily and without stigma,” explains Marta Gómez, nurse coordinator of the project from the Primary Care Management of Tenerife. Since this resource was launched in February 2023, 4,000 tests have been carried out, of which 1,500 have been positive.
Among the infections detected, 158 were syphilis, 185 gonorrhea and 237 chlamydia, following the same contagion pattern that exists at the regional level. “The majority of patients we have diagnosed are between 18 and 28 years old,” confirms Gómez, who claims to also find differences between the sexes. Specifically, men are more likely to be infected with HIV, gonorrhea and syphilis, while women are more likely to suffer from chlamydia.
The procedure to access this resource is the same as to access the health center. “You have to make an appointment with a doctor or nurse and tell them about your situation to be referred for screening,” explains Gómez. At the point, a blood test is carried out which, if positive, is complemented by a urine analysis, in the case of men, or a vaginal exudate, in women. “If the result is positive, we indicate appropriate treatment and the patient is referred to his or her Primary Care doctor for follow-up.”
The success of this project lies in confidentiality. “We do all the detection procedures discreetly, and we also take the opportunity to dispel doubts so that they are not so afraid,” explains Gómez. Furthermore, at these points of screeningsexual education actions are also being carried out.
“We believe that part of the increase in infections that is occurring in the Canary Islands, and throughout Spain, has to do with a lack of sexual education and a change in sexual behavior,” argues the nurse.
These points have been installed in four health centers in Tenerife, but the project is intended to take the project throughout the Canary Islands. “The idea is the geographical expansion of this project so that everyone is on equal terms and does not have to travel,” says the coordinator.
