Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - December 1, 2006
It follows the release of figures on STIs in Northern Ireland, coinciding with World Aids Day.
Dr Raymond Maw, a consultant in the Genito-Urinary clinic at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital said people were waiting too long for appointments.
The Department of Health said a review of STI services was taking place.
It said this should be completed by the end of the year.
"It is an absolute tragedy," Dr Maw told BBC radio's Good Morning Ulster.
"The government targets would be 48 hours - our present access is well over six weeks for a routine appointment, even urgent appointments have to wait for over a week.
"This is purely due to inadequate supply of services - we have been consistently underfunded and ignored and we're reaping the harvest now."
He said that he had sent many letters to the Department of Health over funding.
The latest figures show a rise in the number of HIV infections - with 63 people diagnosed last year - bringing the total of those receiving treatment for HIV to 285.
Dr Maw said the safe sex message was being forgotten.
"Many people seem to know the message but when it comes to Saturday night and going out and getting drunk they quickly forget it," he said.
Dr Neil Irvine of the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre said other STIs were also on the increase.
"I think when we see the increase in HIV together with these other major sexually transmitted infections it would appear that the safe sex message which was so effective in the 80s and 90s no longer seems to be working," he said.
Increases
Overall, the number of sexually transmitted infections went up by 12% last year.
But the total disguises some worrying trends.
There were more than 180 new cases of gonorrhoea - a jump of 47%.
There were also nearly 40 people diagnosed with syphilis and chlamydia too continued its upward trend - with over 1,600 new cases last year.
More than 40m people worldwide are infected with HIV/Aids, the UN has said.
In North America and western Europe, the number of people living with HIV has continued to grow, although the number of Aids deaths remains comparatively low thanks to the wide availability of antiretroviral therapy.
Transmission
Although sex between men and, in a minority of countries, injecting drug use remain important routes for HIV transmission, unprotected heterosexual intercourse is playing an increasingly significant role.
There are concerns that in several countries prevention efforts are lagging behind this shifting pattern of HIV transmission.
In the UK alone, more than 60,000 people are living with HIV and more than 7,000 more are diagnosed every year.
According to the UN India now has more people living with HIV than any other country and accounts for two-thirds of HIV cases in the whole of Asia.
An estimated 5.7 million Indians were infected by the end of 2005, overtaking the 5.5 million cases estimated in South Africa.
However, While 18.8% of South African adults were living with HIV, the figure in India was 0.9%.
Estimates of total deaths in India since Aids was first identified in 1981 range from 270,000 to 680,000.
--THE MAJOR STIs
HIV
Chlamydia
Gonorrhoea
Syphilis
Genital warts
Genital herpes
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