Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, has welcomed an innovative scheme providing students with access to free condoms and sexual health services.
Steve said: 'The launch of such an groundbreaking scheme shows we’re helping do all we can to tackle teenage pregnancy and sexual health issues.
'C-Cards further backs up news last week that our teenage pregnancy rate is down by 12.3 per cent.'
The C-Card scheme has been introduced in Lewisham College to provide tutorials to 16-19-year-olds on condom use and sexual health.
Following the tutorials students will be assessed and on passing a final test on ‘condom use’, they will be issued with a ‘C-Card’, or Condom Card.
The test, comprising 12 questions, will include questions such as 'When during sex should a condom be put on?' and 'How do you dispose of a used condom'. The C-Card will enable the holder to collect free condoms on sites both within and outside of the college.
Forty-four tutorials, starting from this month, have been timetabled, with nearly one thousand students expected to have attended a session by the end of the summer term.
The scheme is funded by the Lewisham Teenage Pregnancy Unit and Lewisham Primary Care Trust. Lewisham College is working in partnership with the charity Working With Men, who designed the scheme, together with Lewisham Primary Care Trust, who will be delivering the sessions.
Working With Men’s director, Trefor Lloyd, said: 'We know that young people are reluctant to use condoms and this scheme is an effective way of getting young people to use them, especially young men and those who would otherwise be unlikely to use them.
'Introducing this scheme so that it is actually part of what a college/school offers to its students would seem an effective way of targeting and engaging young people on sexual health issues.
'The components of the scheme will also engage young people to think about their sexual behaviour and practice and inform them of sexual health services that they can easily access.
'One of the key benefits of the C-Card itself is that young people are able to get free condoms with minimal explanation, communication or questioning. In previous piloted schemes, significant numbers of young men have and do use the card to get condoms.
Dith Banbury, Vice Principal of Learner Services at Lewisham College, said: 'We believe that providing young people with information and training on condom use encourages them to think of the potential consequences of having sex. If they do choose to have sex this programme ensures that contraception is not only available but they know how to use it properly.
'By working together with professionals in the field of sexual health and youth work we can reduce the problems which poor sexual health brings.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Lewisham College is an FE college with a mix of vocational and general education courses. The College serves 15,000 students each year, the majority of whom are from local communities. There are 57% male students to 43% women students, with 58% of our learners coming from ethnic minority backgrounds. Although the average age of students is 30 there are 2,600 students who are aged 16-19.
- Working With Men Working with Men (WWM) is a charity that implements and supports work with boys and young men through projects, research resources, publications, training and consultancy. WWM has a network of practitioners, trainers and consultants with substantial experience of working with this sector For more details visit: www.workingwithmen.org
- Lewisham Primary Care Trust is responsible for improving the health of the local community, providing high quality primary care and community services. The PCT has a specialist sexual and reproductive health service offering clinical services from 10 bases across Lewisham. The Sexual Health Outreach Team who provide a comprehensive sex and relationships education programme in Lewisham secondary schools are delivering the sessions to students and linking them in to the sexual health services.
- Lewisham Teenage Pregnancy, Parenthood and Sexual Health Programme, run by Lewisham Council, is based on a nationwide effort to tackle teenage pregnancy and increase the participation of teenage mothers in education, training or work. New figures show that between 1998 and 2004 teenage pregnancy rates in Lewisham fell by 12.3 per cent. The borough is outperforming London as whole which saw a fall of 5.8 per cent during the same period. It is also bettering the average for England for the same period which is 11.1 per cent.