Wellington, December 18(ANI): Authorities of a town in New Zealand are promoting condoms as a Christmas gift to tackle rising chlamydia infection among under-25s.

Hamilton Family Planning has taken into account Environmental, Science and Research data, which suggests 849 in 100,000 people in Waikato were inflicted with the disease.

Health promotion area manager Glenys Wood claimed that the holiday season could further fuel the menace.

“The holiday period means more social activity and excess alcohol which can lead to unprotected sex and the spread of infections such as chlamydia,” Stuff.co.nz quoted her as saying.

However, Hamilton Sexual Health Clinic clinical director Dr Jane Morgan hopes the number of cases will lessen in the future.

She said: “We asked them to think about sexual diseases when seeing young people about other things and we have seen a big jump in tests being done.

“But eventually we hope to see a fall in cases as awareness grows and cases are exposed and treated.

“People reading this will probably go `yeah, yeah, we know the messages’ but the problem is once they start drinking the messages are forgotten.”

Family Planning national medical adviser Dr Christine Roke emphasized that Emergency Contraceptive Pills may not stop chlamydia.

She said: “The ECP doesn’t stop chlamydia so condoms are still important. Awareness around the ECP is about thinking ahead and having a back-up rather then travelling for miles to find a solution.” (ANI)