The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has released data that should make any investor in public health blanch. Gonorrhoea and syphilis infections have surged to record levels across the continent. In 2022, gonorrhoea cases rose by 48% year-on-year, while syphilis increased by 34%.
This is not a blip; it is a structural failure of preventative healthcare expenditure. The numbers are stark: over 70,000 confirmed gonorrhoea cases and 35,000 syphilis cases reported from 27 EU and EEA countries. The United Kingdom, which left the bloc but remains a key player in European health surveillance, reported similar trends.
One must ask: where is the return on investment in sexual health education and testing? The market for risky behaviour seems to be operating with no price mechanism. Antibiotic resistance is the elephant in the room.
The ECDC warns that extensively drug-resistant gonorrhoea strains are circulating. This is a liability that will come due. The cost of treating complicated infections will far outweigh the paltry sums spent on prevention.
Central banks cannot print their way out of this crisis. The only fiscal remedy is a sharp increase in targeted health spending, coupled with a crackdown on irresponsible sexual behaviour. But that requires political will, a scarce commodity in today's deficit-ridden democracies.
