JERSEY has rising gonorrhoea rates and higher levels of genital warts and genital herpes than England, according to a new sexual health report – which also revealed that the Island’s ability to track infections is limited by outdated paper-based systems.
The Sexual Health Profile 2024, published by Public Health Jersey this week, showed than gonorrhoea rates in the Island have been steadily climbing, rising from 36 per 100,000 people in 2016-2018 to 55 per 100,000 in 2022-2024 – an increase of over 50% in eight years.
Meanwhile, rates of genital warts and genital herpes were higher in Jersey than in England during 2019–2021.
However, most infection rates in Jersey remain similar to or lower than those in England.
The report also looked at sexual behaviour among young Islanders.
The proportion of sexually active young people who say they are having unprotected sex has jumped from 15% in 2018 to 23% in 2024 – almost one in four.
However, there has also been a marked rise in condom use amongst sexually active youngsters – from 49% in 2021 to 62% in 2024.
Brook Jersey remains the most common place young people obtain contraception with over 58% of youngsters using the sexual health service.
The report also revealed that local statistics about sexually transmitted infections cannot always be fully trusted.
It warned that data on genital warts, genital herpes and syphilis is only held on paper rather than in digital systems due to it being “highly sensitive and confidential”.
“This means that manual counting must be applied when determining these sexually transmitted infection statistics in Jersey and is not always readily available for the latest figures,” the report said.
Statistics for chlamydia and gonorrhoea also have “limitations”, according to the report, which explained that numbers include reinfections and “may have some double counting”.
Public Health officials also warn of a lack of demographic detail such as age and ethnicity.
However, the Sexual Health clinic is in the process of improving systems and digitising data in a “protected” and “safe” manner.
The report states: “This system will help improve reporting data efficiently and, in future report on demographic data such as ethnicity, gender and age groups.
“The system will also be able to download the data confidentially. This new system will provide a more intelligent way of reporting.”
