Cases of sexually transmitted diseases have soared among under-25s and the Government is partly to blame, MPs said today.
They said the Health Department missed a golden opportunity to slash chlamydia rates in England because there was no urgency to reach the high volume of testing needed to curb the spread of infection.
The latest report from the Public Accounts Committee also found the Goverment has no idea if the programme to drive down infection rates is having an effect.
It found inadequate measures are in place to check progress of the screening programme across health trusts in England.
Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexual infection and more than half of all new cases in 2008 were among under-25s.
If left untreated, it can lead women to suffer pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and ectopic pregnancies.
Five years after the programme's launch, just 4.9 per cent of people aged 15 to 25 were being tested despite the target being 15 per cent.
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