A recent study has suggested that Solomon Islands have a relatively high sexually transmitted infection (STI) rate among teenagers.
This was revealed in a HIV and STI study carried out in 2009, of which a report was released recently by Dr Dennie Iniakwala from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community's HIV and STI project.The report highlighted that almost 50 per cent of teenagers aged between 15 and 19 were infected.
The report was released in Cook Islands recently with Chlamydia as the highest amongst teenagers in the region.
Dr Iniakwala told Pacific Beat the high rates were due to young people being highly sexually active and not practicing safe sex.
He said since the statistics were gathered two years ago, there had been a shift in the way authorities tackled STIs.
Other island nations highlighted in the 2009 report included Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Fiji, Palau and Federated States of Micronesia.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is currently working hard to provide awareness to educate youths of the current STI and HIV/AIDS status in the country.
Solomon Islands have recorded 15 confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS. Although authorities are quick to point out that the numbers could be much higher.
According to recent reports from the Ministry of Health, from the 15 cases, six have since died while seven of them are on treatment and two of them are still at the monitoring stage.