§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the prevalance of infectious diseases associated with poor water supply and sewage disposal.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe incidence of infectious disease is constantly monitored.
§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the infectious diseases preventable by use of condoms; and what was the cost to the national health service of treating patients with each of these diseases in the last available year, and the number of patients in each case.
§ Mr. SackvilleProvisional figures for 1991–92 of new cases seen at national health service genito urinary medicine—GUM—clinics in England will be placed in the Library. Specific information on the cost to the national health service of treating people with sexually transmitted diseases is not available centrally. However, the annual financial returns of health authorities and national health service trusts in England for 1991–92 indicate that total expenditure on the GUM specialty which was attributable to out-patients amounted to some £70 million.
Condoms properly used do have an important role in family planning and in helping prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection. However, not all sexually transmitted diseases—for example, candidasis, bacterial vaginosis, lice, etc.—can be prevented by the use of a condom. The Government are committed to reducing the number of cases of sexually transmitted disease and have set a target in "The Health of the Nation" of a 20 per cent. reduction in gonorrhoea in men and women aged 15 to 64 by 1995.