Thursday, August 28, 2014.

There is more information about sex online than ever in human history, but experts argue our youngsters are still not grasping the basics of sex and sexual health.

The National Health Service (NHS) spends over £1m per week on repeat abortions, but only four percent of women are using the most effective methods of contraception. 

Studies suggest that if 100 sexually active women don't use contraception, 80-90 percent of them will become pregnant within a year. Experts also say that 49 percent of Black women in Britain who had an abortion had had a previous abortion.

Dr Adaeze Ifezulike, GP Clinical Lead for Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses at NHS Grampian, is concerned.

"In the USA, statistics show that in places, there are more Black babies being terminated than are being born,” she says. “Trends in the UK are moving in this direction with 49 percent of Black women who had an abortion had had a previous abortion.”

To try and address the problem, Dr Adaeze has just published a new book 'Understanding Contraception: A Guide for the Black ladies', which aims to address the sexual health inequality that faces women of the black ethnic minority in the UK. The book was originally launched in Scotland earlier this year where it became an Amazon best seller. It has now been released across the UK.

Dr Adaeze said: “The aim of the book to increase awareness of contraceptive options available to the Black British women and to increase the uptake of contraceptive methods and thereby reduce abortion rates and sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDs.”

In addition, she says she wants to  sensitively explore the cultural and religious mindset that affect use of contraception in Black communities.

According to Dr Adaeze, there is a lack of information on contraception that specifically targets Black women in Britain. This is despite the recent Department of Health's abortion statistics from England and Wales, which showed a 49 percent rate of recurrent abortion among women of African descent with either roots in the Caribbean or Africa. This compares to a national rate of 36 percent. In 2011, there were a total of 12,471 abortions in Scotland and 196,082 abortions in England and Wales. At an estimated cost of £680 per abortion, the cost to the National Health Service (NHS), experts say, is staggering.

 Naana Otoo-Oyortey MBE, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development, has written a foreword to the book. She said: "Dr Adaeze Ifezulike has responded to the challenges and dilemmas that she sees daily in her surgery and provides a very practical and easy to read book. Understanding Contraception should be made widely available to Black women of all ages. I call on the NHS and women's organisations to help women gain knowledge and confidence about contraception so that they can make key decisions in their personal lives."

Understanding Contraception by Dr Adaeze Ifezulike is published by Filament Publishing Ltd and available at Amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Contraception-Guide-Black-Ladies/dp/1908691891