Inadequate sex education creating "health time bomb"

Inadequate sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools is creating “a ticking sexual health time bomb”, councils are warning, amid concern over high numbers of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents 370 councils in England and Wales, has joined the growing clamour urging the government to make sex education compulsory in all secondary schools. Currently it is mandatory in local authority-maintained schools, but not in academies and free schools which make up 65% of secondaries.

Izzi Seccombe, chair of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said it was a major health protection issue. “The lack of compulsory sex and relationship education in academies and free schools is storing up problems for later on in life, creating a ticking sexual health time bomb, as we are seeing in those who have recently left school.

“The shockingly high numbers of STI diagnoses in teenagers and young adults, particularly in the immediate post-school generation, is of huge concern to councils.

The LGA argues that it is a health protection issue, with 141,000 new STI diagnoses for 20- to 24-year-olds in England in 2015 and 78,000 for those aged 15-19. Sexual health is one of local government’s biggest areas of public health spending, with approximately £600m budgeted annually.

The LGA appeal came as the government was reported to be close to making an announcement regarding SRE and PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education), after the education secretary, Justine Greening, flagged up the issue as a priority for government.

Campaigners hope the announcement will be made during the next stage of the children and social work bill, which is passing through parliament. An amendment with cross-party support was tabled last week which, if carried, would would amount to the biggest overhaul in sex education in 17 years, but it is not yet clear what the government announcement will amount to, and crucially whether it will make SRE compulsory.

Izzi Seccombe, chair of the LGA’s community wellbeing board. Photograph: None

Seccombe said: “We believe that making sex and relationship education compulsory in all secondary schools, not just council-maintained ones, could make a real difference in reversing this trend, by preparing pupils for adulthood and enabling them to better take care of themselves and future partners.”

The LGA says while SRE should be made compulsory for secondary school children, with statutory guidance on key issues including sexual health, parents should still be given the option of taking their children from the lessons.

Tory MP Maria Miller was among those proposing the amendment to the bill last week. It followed an inquiry by the women and equalities committee, chaired by Miller, which heard that most children have seen online pornography by the time they leave primary school and two thirds will have been asked for a sexual digital image of themselves before they leave secondary school.

According to Miller, research has shown that just one in four children at secondary school receives any teaching on sex and relationship issues, and Ofsted has said that when it is taught the quality of teaching is often poor.

“Different interest groups cannot agree on a way forward that suits them and in the meantime we are letting down a generation of children who are not being taught how to keep themselves safe in an online, digital world,” said Miller.

“We are not teaching them that pornography isn’t representative of a typical relationship, that sexting images are illegal and could be distributed to child abuse websites and how to be aware of the signs of grooming for sexual exploitation.

“Overwhelmingly parents and children are fed up and want change. They want compulsory lessons in school to teach children and young people about consent and healthy relationships.”

Inadequate sex education creating "health time bomb"

Peri-implantitis: The "time bomb" in dental implants

Peri-implantitis is an inflammatory disease marked by bacterial infection and the gradual reduction of the jaw bone supporting the implant. It’s not nevertheless clear whether the infection leads to the bone to recede, or the bone reduction exposes the region to bacteria. Dentists are uncertain how to treat it. “I was shocked,” says Mrs Gunnell. “I’d never heard of the condition.”

Ten years ago, specialists stated the situation did not exist. But now it is on the rise, as escalating numbers of individuals have replacement porcelain crowns with titanium roots. Half-a-million grownups have at least one particular dental implant, in accordance to the most current Grownup Dental Overall health Survey.

Studies have advised that a single third of sufferers will be infected. “We’re sitting on a time bomb,” says Dr Stephen Jacobs, a previous president of the Association of Dental Implantology and properly-respected implant surgeon. “We are going to be seeing much more and much more situations.”

Peri-implantitis is often preceded by a considerably milder illness, referred to as peri-implant mucositis, which is common and treatable. Early warning signs are red, swollen gums and bleeding when probed. If undetected and untreated, it might grow to be peri-implantitis.

Since bone loss is painless, a lot of people really do not realise they have the situation. So scrupulous oral hygiene and normal follow-up appointments right after an implant are crucial, says Dr Jacobs, who runs a Glasgow clinic. “One of the troubles with seeking therapy abroad [as a lot of do in search of less costly remedy] is the lack of lifelong servicing and adhere to-up, which is a key component of the care method.”

Mrs Gunnell stopped going for check out-ups three many years in the past, right after she moved from London to Devon. She was at higher danger of peri-implantitis since of a family members historical past of gum condition (periodontitis). Smokers, too, are at large threat.

Paradoxically, the rise in instances is mainly due to advances in implant layout. In the mid-Nineties, clinicians found that implants with a rough rather of a smooth surface integrated greater with the bone. However, the textured surface is much more likely to harbour bacteria if the bone shrinks away from it.

Right after her recent diagnosis, Mrs Gunnell returned to the London prosthodontist who originally handled her. “He removed the bridge and screws and deep-cleaned the whole spot and all the components,” she says. “He informed me to brush with TePe brushes [little interdental brushes] dipped in Corsodyl [antiseptic mouthwash], morning and night, and to come back for yearly check out-ups. Hopefully that will preserve the infection at bay. I hope so, since I’ve manufactured such an investment in my teeth.”

The Association of Dental Implantology: adi.org.uk

Peri-implantitis: The "time bomb" in dental implants

Post-traumatic stress disorder: the bomb waiting to explode

Heywood, a circuit judge given that 2008, is well positioned to make his feedback, not least as it is he and his colleagues who come face-to-encounter with these damaged warriors in court. His god-daughter is a Royal Horse Artillery officer who has just returned from a tour of Afghanistan. Her brother, also, has served 6 excursions of the nation as an Apache pilot with the Army Air Corps, the regiment to which Prince Harry was attached in Helmand. Heywood also counts as a friend a “senior British Army officer out there, presently a standard, in charge of the withdrawal… So I know what is going on and I know how numerous individuals come back scarred from the knowledge.”

Just what is going on, however, remains a point of contention. It is 99 years since Charles S Myers, a captain in the Royal Army Healthcare Corps, published “A contribution to the research of shell shock”, bringing the term to prominence by studying the signs of three traumatised soldiers on the Western Front. Rather than the continual boom of Initial Planet War bombs, it is the hidden risk of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that leaves the deepest mental scar on today’s troops. But the symptoms remain the identical: what Myers identified as shell shock is now acknowledged as PTSD (albeit a problem that is not limited to war zones), classed as a delayed response to trauma that provokes recurring distressing memories and flashbacks and, in some circumstances, triggers a harmful modify in behaviour.

The present day Army is keen to demonstrate that, not like a century in the past, it has grasped the concern. A leaked memo noticed last week by the Telegraph, written by Maj Gen Robert Nitsch in January, shortly right after he was appointed CBE in the 2014 New Yr Honours checklist, attempts to tackle what he calls a “general drip of unfavorable publicity about the mental state of Armed Forces’ veterans”.

The memo, distributed to the Army’s most senior officers beneath the instruction that they should “feel cost-free to publicise” its message, stresses that “there is, so far, no evidence to help the assertion that we are sitting on a time-bomb of PTSD among regulars who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan”. It says that “a job in the Armed Forces is not related with an all round enhance in risk of building a psychiatric or psychological-overall health disorder”, and that even though the number of male Armed Forces veterans account for 9.1 per cent of the population, veterans make up only three.five per cent of the prison population.

Dan Jarvis, a former Paratrooper who served in Afghanistan and is now the shadow justice secretary, criticises the language employed in the briefing as “complacent” but says that it points to a wider ­problem.

“The Ministry of Defence has created some enhancements in current many years, but I think, ­culturally, there are nonetheless these folks who seem not to want to tackle the total scale of this,” he says.

Maj Gen Nitsch’s stance is backed up by official and – the MoD stresses – independent figures that it says are the most trustworthy and up-to-date obtainable. But critics warn that they may possibly not give the total image.

Writing in the Telegraph this month, Stuart Tootal, a former commander of three Para and chairman of the Afghanistan Trust, cast doubt on the official MoD numbers for PTSD, which claim, he says, four per cent of soldiers will suffer from the problem, rising to five per cent among infantry units and 6 per cent among reservists.

“This calculation is based mostly on a review completed in 2009,” he says. “Since then, the Uk has been at war for one more 5 years, and thousands more have served. Additionally, the study did not track veterans, so it are not able to consider account of the delayed onset of PTSD – which can often manifest itself when veterans depart the familiar atmosphere of the military and enter civilian life.”

Certainly, considering that the figures have been compiled the quantity of troops who have served in Afghanistan in search of aid from Combat Stress, the UK’s top psychological-health charity for veterans, has improved by an average of 50 per cent every 12 months. The charity’s most current figures, published earlier this month, display that it obtained 358 new referrals representing Afghanistan veterans in 2013, in contrast with 228 in 2012 – a rise of 57 per cent. Not all, of program, are for PTSD. War leaves myriad hidden scars.

“The point at the moment is, we just really do not know the place it is going to go,” says Dr Walter Busuttil, director of healthcare providers. “This has been going on for years. I joined Combat Stress in 2007, and from 2011 there has been this huge leap every single yr. They [the returning soldiers] are coming to us greater educated about the symptoms. It is normally their wife or girlfriend who has created them come to see us.”

Tragically, a lot of partners do so only after they have been the victim of an assault themselves. An MoD-funded research published by the King’s Centre for Military Overall health Research last 12 months discovered that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are far more very likely to commit a violent offence throughout their lifetime than their civilian counterparts, with a “stark” big difference witnessed in males aged beneath thirty. A lot more than 20 per cent of the 2,728 younger soldiers followed in the review had committed a violent offence, compared with 6.seven per cent of younger men outdoors the military. Men with direct fight publicity had been 53 per cent much more very likely to commit a violent offence than individuals serving in a non-fight position. Several much more flip to drink.

As our courts demonstrate, the casualties extend beyond the soldiers themselves. Earlier this yr, a packed Northampton Crown Court heard how Liam Culverhouse, a 25-12 months-previous lance corporal with the Grenadier Guards, was blinded in one particular eye in an assault in Afghanistan in November 2009, in which 5 of his comrades had been killed. A couple of months soon after he was discharged from the Army with PTSD, his 7-week-previous daughter Khloe was taken to hospital with severe brain harm and fractures to her skull, ribs and limbs. She died, aged 19 months, right after paying far more than a 12 months in hospital.

^{L/Cpl Liam Culverhouse (RRP)}

Culverhouse, who was jailed for 6 many years for leading to or making it possible for the death of his kid, had warned Army medical doctors prior to the assault that he was very likely to harm her. However, they committed a “serious error” by failing to share the data with the Army Welfare Service or civilian safeguarding agencies, a situation evaluation has since found. Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, insists that lessons have been learnt from the case.

Any mention of complacency is denied by the MoD, which factors to the £7.four million that has been invested in mental-well being providers. “We are committed to offering everybody who serves in our Armed Forces all the help and assistance they need to have,” a spokesman says. “We want to even more reduce the stigma of mental sickness, encouraging even a lot more men and women to come forward, and we will continue to work closely with Combat Tension to assist veterans accessibility the wide selection of help accessible.”

The extent of the mental strain on soldiers has now been officially noted in an appeal hearing that took location on Thursday for Sgt Alexander Blackman, the Royal Marine convicted of murdering a wounded Taliban captive, which led to him having his sentence decreased from 10 to eight years. The Court Martial Appeal Court located “greater weight” ought to have been given to the fight tension he was below when he shot dead the badly wounded fighter in September 2011.

^{Sentence reduced: Sgt Alexander Blackman (PA)}

Individuals concerned are aware, nevertheless, that the man recognized as Marine A was tried in a military court, supposedly better equipped to understand the special stress of war. In the civilian criminal courts, the fret is that veterans’ trauma may fall on uncomprehending ears.

As a end result, in January Justice Secretary Chris Grayling ordered a overview to appear at veterans in the criminal justice technique, following amendments tabled to the Offender Rehabilitation Act by Dan Jarvis.

“It is not about letting men and women off lightly,” says Jarvis. “But we require to make positive we have a criminal justice system that is mindful of some of the experiences they will have faced.”

For now, there are nonetheless broken veterans slipping via society’s cracks, who are left to stare by means of the reinforced glass of our courtrooms.

Post-traumatic stress disorder: the bomb waiting to explode

Publish-traumatic anxiety disorder: the bomb waiting to explode

Heywood, a circuit judge given that 2008, is well positioned to make his feedback, not least as it is he and his colleagues who come face-to-encounter with these broken warriors in court. His god-daughter is a Royal Horse Artillery officer who has just returned from a tour of Afghanistan. Her brother, as well, has served six tours of the country as an Apache pilot with the Army Air Corps, the regiment to which Prince Harry was connected in Helmand. Heywood also counts as a buddy a “senior British Army officer out there, currently a common, in charge of the withdrawal… So I know what is going on and I know how many folks come back scarred from the knowledge.”

Just what is going on, though, stays a stage of contention. It is 99 years considering that Charles S Myers, a captain in the Royal Army Healthcare Corps, published “A contribution to the study of shell shock”, bringing the term to prominence by learning the signs of three traumatised soldiers on the Western Front. Rather than the consistent boom of First Globe War bombs, it is the hidden threat of IEDs (improvised explosive gadgets) that leaves the deepest psychological scar on today’s troops. But the signs and symptoms remain the identical: what Myers recognized as shell shock is now known as PTSD (albeit a condition that is not limited to war zones), classed as a delayed response to trauma that provokes recurring distressing memories and flashbacks and, in some instances, triggers a unsafe change in behaviour.

The present day Army is keen to display that, as opposed to a century in the past, it has grasped the problem. A leaked memo noticed final week by the Telegraph, written by Maj Gen Robert Nitsch in January, shortly after he was appointed CBE in the 2014 New 12 months Honours checklist, attempts to handle what he calls a “general drip of damaging publicity about the mental state of Armed Forces’ veterans”.

The memo, distributed to the Army’s most senior officers underneath the instruction that they need to “feel free of charge to publicise” its message, stresses that “there is, so far, no proof to support the assertion that we are sitting on a time-bomb of PTSD among regulars who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan”. It says that “a career in the Armed Forces is not related with an total boost in risk of developing a psychiatric or mental-wellness disorder”, and that whilst the variety of male Armed Forces veterans account for 9.1 per cent of the population, veterans make up only 3.five per cent of the prison population.

Dan Jarvis, a former Paratrooper who served in Afghanistan and is now the shadow justice secretary, criticises the language utilized in the briefing as “complacent” but says that it points to a wider ­problem.

“The Ministry of Defence has created some enhancements in recent years, but I consider, ­culturally, there are even now these individuals who seem not to want to deal with the total scale of this,” he says.

Maj Gen Nitsch’s stance is backed up by official and – the MoD stresses – independent figures that it says are the most respected and up-to-date obtainable. But critics warn that they might not give the full image.

Writing in the Telegraph this month, Stuart Tootal, a former commander of 3 Para and chairman of the Afghanistan Trust, cast doubt on the official MoD numbers for PTSD, which claim, he says, four per cent of soldiers will endure from the condition, rising to 5 per cent amid infantry units and 6 per cent amongst reservists.

“This calculation is based mostly on a study finished in 2009,” he says. “Since then, the Uk has been at war for one more five years, and thousands far more have served. Furthermore, the review did not track veterans, so it cannot take account of the delayed onset of PTSD – which can often manifest itself when veterans leave the familiar environment of the military and enter civilian existence.”

Certainly, since the figures were compiled the variety of troops who have served in Afghanistan in search of aid from Fight Pressure, the UK’s leading psychological-wellness charity for veterans, has elevated by an average of 50 per cent each and every yr. The charity’s most recent figures, published earlier this month, demonstrate that it acquired 358 new referrals representing Afghanistan veterans in 2013, compared with 228 in 2012 – a rise of 57 per cent. Not all, of program, are for PTSD. War leaves myriad hidden scars.

“The thing at the moment is, we just don’t know exactly where it’s going to go,” says Dr Walter Busuttil, director of healthcare companies. “This has been going on for many years. I joined Fight Anxiety in 2007, and from 2011 there has been this big leap every single yr. They [the returning soldiers] are coming to us greater educated about the signs and symptoms. It is normally their wife or girlfriend who has made them come to see us.”

Tragically, several partners do so only following they have been the victim of an assault themselves. An MoD-funded research published by the King’s Centre for Military Wellness Study final yr discovered that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are much more most likely to commit a violent offence throughout their lifetime than their civilian counterparts, with a “stark” distinction observed in guys aged beneath 30. More than twenty per cent of the two,728 young soldiers followed in the examine had committed a violent offence, in contrast with 6.7 per cent of youthful males outdoors the military. Men with direct fight exposure were 53 per cent much more very likely to commit a violent offence than individuals serving in a non-combat position. Many more turn to drink.

As our courts present, the casualties extend beyond the soldiers themselves. Earlier this year, a packed Northampton Crown Court heard how Liam Culverhouse, a 25-12 months-old lance corporal with the Grenadier Guards, was blinded in one particular eye in an assault in Afghanistan in November 2009, in which five of his comrades were killed. A number of months soon after he was discharged from the Army with PTSD, his 7-week-outdated daughter Khloe was taken to hospital with serious brain injury and fractures to her skull, ribs and limbs. She died, aged 19 months, soon after paying a lot more than a year in hospital.

^{L/Cpl Liam Culverhouse (RRP)}

Culverhouse, who was jailed for six many years for leading to or permitting the death of his youngster, had warned Army doctors just before the attack that he was likely to harm her. Even so, they committed a “serious error” by failing to share the details with the Army Welfare Support or civilian safeguarding agencies, a case evaluation has since found. Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, insists that lessons have been learnt from the case.

Any mention of complacency is denied by the MoD, which factors to the £7.4 million that has been invested in mental-wellness providers. “We are committed to giving every person who serves in our Armed Forces all the aid and assistance they need,” a spokesman says. “We want to even more minimize the stigma of mental illness, encouraging even much more individuals to come forward, and we will proceed to work closely with Combat Anxiety to support veterans entry the broad assortment of support obtainable.”

The extent of the psychological strain on soldiers has now been officially mentioned in an appeal hearing that took area on Thursday for Sgt Alexander Blackman, the Royal Marine convicted of murdering a wounded Taliban captive, which led to him having his sentence decreased from ten to eight many years. The Court Martial Appeal Court found “greater weight” ought to have been provided to the combat pressure he was under when he shot dead the badly wounded fighter in September 2011.

^{Sentence diminished: Sgt Alexander Blackman (PA)}

These concerned are aware, even so, that the guy identified as Marine A was attempted in a military court, supposedly better equipped to comprehend the special strain of war. In the civilian criminal courts, the fear is that veterans’ trauma may possibly fall on uncomprehending ears.

As a outcome, in January Justice Secretary Chris Grayling ordered a assessment to look at veterans in the criminal justice technique, following amendments tabled to the Offender Rehabilitation Act by Dan Jarvis.

“It is not about letting folks off lightly,” says Jarvis. “But we want to make certain we have a criminal justice program that is mindful of some of the experiences they will have faced.”

For now, there are even now broken veterans slipping by way of society’s cracks, who are left to stare by means of the reinforced glass of our courtrooms.

Publish-traumatic anxiety disorder: the bomb waiting to explode