Half of the Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) reported in a region of Lisbon in 2023 were from immigrants and, of these, 36.2% were Portuguese speakers, according to a data analysis to which Lusa had access.
An analysis, prepared by public health experts, took into account the diseases registered in the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (SINAVE), which records mandatory notification diseases.
The study focused on an area of 228 thousand people, who live in eight parishes covered by ACES de Lisboa Norte, currently the Local Health Unit of Santa Maria.
The big conclusion was: responses aimed at migrants are needed.
Among these diseases for mandatory registration are STIs, which represented 82% of records this year, of which data analysis evaluated the most significant: Gonorrhea (34%), chlamydia (21%), syphilis (12%) and HIV/AIDS (6%).
Around half of the notified STIs (49.1%) corresponded to citizens with Portuguese nationality and the rest 50.9% to immigrants.
Of the immigrant population, 36.2% were Portuguese-speaking citizensother than Portuguese.
“Taking into account these numbers, it makes sense for us to pay attention to the reality of STI, that there is an investment in better understanding this phenomenon, and that there are targeted responses, particularly to the most vulnerable population, such as migrants”, he told Lusa Afonso Moreira, sanitarian and health delegate at ULS in Santa Maria, one of the authors of the analysis.
The clinician highlighted that the values are also the result of an increase in notifications that doctors have made of STIs and a greater sensitivity of the surveillance system itself, which occurs in Portugal, as in other European countries.
There is a “lack of responsibility” for sexual behaviors
Asked about priority measures, Afonso Moreira said that they should occur at the level of primary and secondary preventionthat is, preventing diseases from arising and their transmission, namely through the use of condomand then identifying diagnoses for the best and timely intervention.
Nurse Ana Fortes, from the Francisco George Public Health Unit, a specialist in community health, confirms this increase in STIs, verified by the data.
This increase is “very much associated with the unresponsibility of people in sexual behaviors. It is considered that, as there is treatment, there is no need to use condoms to prevent infections”, said the co-author of the data analysis.
“In the past, anyone living with HIV had a diagnosis of death in the short or medium term, and, at this moment, the treatment allows a perfectly normal life and, as there are no side effects, people devalued the risk of becoming infected with HIV; By stopping using condoms due to HIV, they ended up becoming more exposed and infected by STIs,” he told Lusa.
The nurse warned about the consequences of these diseases, such as infertility, reproductive health problems and antimicrobial resistance.
“People can become infected and not be able to treat themselves, in addition to transmitting the infection and even resistant infection”, he highlighted.
Cármen Cunha, from the Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa and co-author of the analysis, told Lusa that “being a migrant is recognized as an increased risk to contract STIs, along with attitudes related to risk beliefs and behaviors.”
“The nurse, especially the public health and community health nurse, as an educator, is presented as an example to provide clarifications and correct information and thus act in the prevention of STIs, through literacy, to minimize pain, suffering and the consequences caused by them”, he noted.
STIs still have a strong impact in terms of mental health, particularly due to stigmatization.
