Health experts use UK music festival as opportunity to raise STD awareness

In an initiative targeting the young people attending the Kendal Calling music festival in Cumbria, United Kingdom, health advocates will address the high prevalence of chlamydia among young people, according to the News & Star.

This is the second time the festival has offered STD awareness campaigning, which will be done in cooperation with the Cumbria branch of the UK's National Health Service (NHS). At last year's Kendal Calling festival, more than 750 people took advantage of the available chlamydia testing.

Kendal Calling attendees will be able to utilize the festival's toilets to conduct their testing. Jane Muller, associate director of public health for Cumbria, hoped that this would help promote awareness of the sexually transmitted disease (STD), which in many instances presents no obvious symptoms to those who are infected with it.

"An event like this is the perfect opportunity to have a chat with young people and break down that embarrassment which can still exist in more formal locations," Muller said, according to the news source.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. recommends that most sexually active women and men, especially those who are younger than 25, should be screened regularly for chlamydia.