A HAMPSHIRE dating and relationship expert is encouraging older people to be informed about their sexual health and end the stigmas attached to it.

Qualified matchmaker Jacqui Baker is concerned about the rise in STIs in the over-65s, and says there needs to be more information available.

Jacqui is the founder of Select Connections & Select Events, which helps older people find love.

She is based near Warsash, and holds events for single people in and around Hampshire.

READ MORE: Founder interview with Jacqui Baker of Select Connections & Select Events

She told the Echo: "It is a taboo subject, that's why they do not want to go into chemists and buy condoms.

"It comes back to people saying when you get to a certain age you do not engage in intimacy. 

"A lot of people are going online dating and thinking, 'I can't get pregnant or get her pregnant'.

READ MORE: 'Who needs a partner?' - Southampton businesswoman speaks before Valentine's Day

"It is a stigma attached to it. If you are young and go into a shop to pick up a pack of condoms, people think nothing of it. If an older person does it they might get a look."

It comes after a new report from the LGA, which represents councils in England and Wales, shared that there has been a rise in STIs in the over 65 age group.

The report - Breaking point: securing the future of sexual health services - said the number of common STIs among people over 65 has increased by 20 per cent, from 2,280 in 2017 to 2748 in 2019.

Jacqui says there needs to be more information for older people having sex.

The 58-year-old said: "A lot of people in their 50s and 60s are very much up for it, to be crass."

She added that there should be "more information available" and suggests people should not be afraid to visit their doctors instead of dealing with things themselves.

Jacqui was a business development manager at Solent University, before training to become an Accredited Matchmaker during the pandemic.

In December 2020, she set up Select Connections after being accepted by the Association of British Introduction Agencies.

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