 Students may be too young to remember previous health campaigns |
The safe sex message is being reinforced by student leaders in mid Wales with the launch of a special awareness week. A programme of events is being organised by Aberystwyth Guild of Students.
The guild plans to launch hundreds of balloons to symbolise how illness can be indiscriminately transmitted.
Sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) continue to grow, with more than 700,000 new cases in the UK in 2003.
Last year, a �300m campaign was launched to tackle the growing sexual health crisis in the UK.
It was announced that clinics would receive �130m for modernisation while �50m would go on an advertising campaign for under 25s - the largest of its kind for 20 years.
Despite greater awareness of the major STIs, chlamydia rose by 9% in 2003 to 89,818, genital warts went up by 2% to 70,883 and syphilis increased by 28% with 1,575 cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The guild in Aberystwyth said today's students were not old enough to remember the safe sex message of the 1980s, and it was trying to redress the balance.
Rob Doran, the guild's education and welfare officer, said the awareness week was aimed at helpig to stem the tide of the rise of STIs among people of student age.
"In the last 10 years, STIs have increased by over 30% which is frightening when this includes potentially life-threatening conditions such as HIV," he said.
"The majority of the student population are not old enough to remember the safe sex message of the 1980s and we are trying to redress this balance."
 | THE MAJOR STIs HIV Chlamydia Gonorrhoea Syphilis Genital warts Genital herpes |
The week will also raise money for the Aids charity, theTerrence Higgins Trust Cymru.
As well as the balloon launch, there will be a gig featuring Welsh bands on 3 February with cash raised going to the charity.
In November last year, the Terrence Higgins Trust Cymru called for a "comprehensive overhaul" of services in response to a growing HIV problem in Wales.
It said infection rates in the virus, which can lead to Aids, had risen 45% in the last two years, from 398 in 2001 to 575 in 2003.
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The majority of the student population are not old enough to remember the safe sex message of the 1980s 
