I don't know about you but I
am glad Valentine's Day is over. Nowadays, it feels a bit like an excuse to
fill the commercial gap between Christmas and Easter and I am just exhausted by
the whole thing - well I was more than happy when 50 tulips were delivered to
my office yesterday, but that's not the point.
While I was recovering from
this somewhat forced romance binge, looking for some Valentine's Day-related
anecdotes - and I did come across a few - I found something that could prove
really useful for the special day next year.
A US-based website called
inSPOT gives the opportunity to
people with a recently-diagnosed STI to inform former sex partners about their disease via virtual
Valentine's Day cards... Apparently, people are more comfortable bringing up
taboo subjects online. Well I guess it also helps that the e-sender can choose
to remain anonymous.
The system is pretty
straightforward, you pick your city (only available in the US at the moment),
then the e-card you would like to send - this ranges from a simple "I am
so sorry" note to an humorous "I got screwed while screwing, you
might have too" - add a short message (good luck?), enter the lucky recipients' email
addresses and press send.
It might seem a bit direct
but if you think that increasing diagnoses of STIs and record HIV prevalence
make these the fastest growing health conditions in England, any solution to tackle
this issue is welcome.
Although good progress has been made
in terms of access to sexual health services in the past few years, according to a recent report
published by the FPA (Family Planning Association), the number
of people living with HIV in the UK is about 70,000, one third of
whom do not know they are infected. Based on current trends, around 100,000
people will be infected with HIV by the end of 2010, compared to 30,000 in
2000.
On top of that, there have
been significant increases in STI diagnoses in GUM clinics since the the
publication of the national sexual health and HIV strategy seven years ago.
I admit the e-cards are not
the most romantic way of telling ex-lovers the bad news but perhaps they'll get
the message and will be grateful in the long term...
Well, at least it's
eco-friendly, it has a purpose - it could save lives - and is definitely less cheesy
than a standard Valentine's Day card, isn't it? Well until you receive one...