Punchy slogan to combat sex diseases

By ALEXIS GRANT

No Rubba, No Hubba Hubba.

The new slogan is being used to battle a serious issue: the rise of sexually transmitted infections among teenagers.

The $2.2 million campaign, launched yesterday by the Health Ministry, will reach youth through television, cinema and magazine adverts, brochures and the website www.hubba.co.nz until March.

"We can pretend that our young people are not sexually active and watch our STI rates continue to climb," said Dr Doug Lush, the ministry's acting director of public health, "or we can be proactive and realistic and give sexually active young people the tools to protect themselves."

The number of confirmed chlamydia and gonorrhoea cases diagnosed at sexual health clinics has increased 66 per cent and 57 per cent respectively over the last five years, says the ministry.

About 65 per cent of cases occur in people younger than 25.

Alicia Cassidy, a 17-year-old who attends Lynfield College, said she thought the slogan was funny the first time she heard it.

"I reckon it kind of makes it seem less shameful to talk about," she said.

Youth experts and professionals in the healthcare field expect the slogan to be a hit with other teenagers as well

"I think it's got some legs," said Spencer Willis, manager of 18 Ltd, an Auckland youth research company. "Whether they think it's stupid doesn't matter because at least it will be discussed."

Dr Gill Greer, executive director of the Family Planning Association, said similar "really punchy, proactive HIV-prevention campaigns" in the mid-1980s stopped HIV and Aids from becoming a huge problem in New Zealand.

"If we give health promotion messages the same way we've always given them, we'll wonder why they're not [effective]," Dr Greer said.

A growing number of people are still becoming infected with HIV/Aids - 188 new cases last year - but the country still has a relatively low incidence of the disease.

However, New Zealand does have a high number of unintended pregnancies and abortions. The rate of births to women aged 15 to 19 is the third-highest of developed countries at 27 per 1000.

The message to use a "rubba" does not completely push aside lessons of abstinence and how to say no to sex, since those issues are addressed in the campaign's brochure and website.

"As part of a comprehensive programme [abstinence] has been shown to delay sex intercourse, but it doesn't work as a single option," said campaign manager Sally Hughes.

National's associate health spokesman, Dr Paul Hutchinson, said the campaign did not go far enough.

"We must take the sexual health of our nation more seriously."

But others said the key to a successful campaign was to have a simple message.

Said Dr Sue Bagshaw, a youth sexual health specialist: "Sometimes we bombard people with too many messages, and they get confused and follow none of them."

Safe-sex slogans

No Rubba, No Hubba Hubba joins these other sayings in the use-a-condom hall of fame:

No balloon, no party.

If it's not on, it's not on.

No glove, no love.

Have you got your parachute?