The government has unveiled its strategy for sexual health, putting safe sex at the core of a renewed effort to reduce the number of sexually transmitted diseases in the UK.

As the number of STDs and new cases of Aids and HIV continue to rise, ministers are to redouble their efforts to get the safe sex message across.

The government will launch a major advertising campaign warning of the dangers of sexually transmitted infections, the HIV virus and unwanted pregnancies.

The campaign, to begin next year, will be the first to highlight safe sex since the major advertising campaigns seen following the arrival of Aids in the UK during the 1980s.

Ministers have also detailed plans to triple the number of people being offered HIV tests when they visit clinics and will recommend that all women who attend family planning clinics are screened for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

Health watchdogs hope the combination of increased screening and a renewed PR offensive will halt the rise in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The announcement comes amid record increases in the number of STDs - with the number of sexually-acquired HIV and Aids cases also on the increase.

In recent years Britain has seen a sharp increase in the number of sexually transmitted infections, particularly among teenaged women. Between 1995 and 1999, the number of cases of gonorrhoea rose from 10,000 to 16,000, according to the Public Health Laboratory Service.

Over the last year, the figure has risen to 20,190 with cases of chlamydia increasing from 53,221 to 62,565. Cases of Syphilis also rose by a more than 50 per cent - following large, local outbreaks, among gay men

Aids campaigners say that a culture of complacency is resulting in both heterosexuals and homosexuals taking potentially fatal risks.

Last year 3425 cases of HIV were reported in the UK - up 14 per cent over the previous year. As part of its new strategy, the government hopes to reduce the number of new infections by 25 per cent.

Ministers also want to tackle the rise in the number of unwanted pregnancies by ending the "postcode lottery" which is stopping some women getting access to contraception. Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe.