A new opinion poll has found that most young women support the introduction of a national screening programme to detect Group B Strep in pregnant women.
The survey found that just over half (54%) of women aged 20-35 have heard of Group B Strep, but only 20% know what it is. Whilst this is a huge improvement since 2006 when 9 out of 10 pregnant women had not heard of group B Strep (click here), it remains relatively unchanged from the survey in 2010 (click here).
Once young women are made aware of the dangers of Group B Strep, they strongly agree that pregnant women should be offered information, tests and when identified, antibiotics in labour against group B Strep infectin in the baby. This validates GBSS’s campaign goals of raising awareness of Group B Strep and increasing access to tests and treatments.
• 92% believe that information on group B Strep should be given to all pregnant women
• 92% would welcome the opportunity for pregnant women to be screened for group B Strep in the later stages of pregnancy and believe this should be offered to women routinely
• 95% believe antibiotics should be offered in labour to women with group B Strep and that they themselves would definitely or probably accept the offer (89%)
When asked specifically if they would agree to receive antibiotics in labour if it would minimise the risk of serious infection for their baby a large majority answer ‘yes’ with a sizable minority answer ‘probably’ rather than ‘definitely’.
Survey conducted by ComRes of 1,000 20-35 year old women in the UK online between 28 October and 1 November 2011 to find out more about the survey from their website click here.
