Health authorities in Sweden have launched a campaign to promote the use of condoms, in attempt to cut the spread of HIV infection.
The National Board of Health and Welfare found that while young people in the country had a positive attitude to condoms "in principle", only 56% always used them while having casual sex.
In the same survey of 4,714 Swedes aged 15 to 24, 40% did not know how HIV was transmitted and only 7% thought there was a high risk of contracting it.
Health Minister Maria Larsson and Christer Wennerholm, head of the National Council for Coordination of HIV Prevention, said: "In many ways, we have in our country all the necessary information to live a healthy life with low risk of disease."
However, they said that while many young people had a healthy attitude, they did not always put this into practice. "Only 51% of girls and 56% of guys aged 15 to 19 consider it obvious to use a condom with a casual partner," they said.
Last year, according to the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, 468 people in Sweden contracted HIV and nearly 38,000 caught chlamydia. The new campaign aims to halve the spread of HIV by 2016.
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