December 2012: Sexual health for young people is an area where health and social welfare services must work in tandem in order to provide the necessary supports to ensure good health.
Sexual health services in New South Wales are significantly below the standards of other Australian States. Victoria has comprehensive online information provided by their Government that informs young people on how to access these services. Western Australia has a school-based system that is highly regarded as being an effective way to communicate sexual health issues with young people. The NSW Ministry of Health website, however, provides no direction to Sexual Health Services within the State, nor links sites that are informative for young people in the same way other states do. Due to the high internet usage by young people, a poor site is a major barrier to increasing awareness around sexual health that needs to be addressed. Addressing this issue contributes to the development of a sexual health service that is user friendly to young people.