New Zealand's worst region for STIs – it's the regional title nobody wants unfortunately for the Bay of Plenty it's a title it owns.

The Lakes District Health Board which covers Rotorua, Taupo and surrounding areas has the highest rates of Chlamydia in the country.

Lakes District Health Board had the highest rate for chlamydia in 2014. Photo: Supplied.

Figures collated by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research show Lakes DHB had 1182 laboratory-confirmed cases of chlamydia in 2014, equivalent to 1144 cases per 100,000 people.

It puts them one case per 100,000 ahead of Tairawhiti (Gisborne and surrounding areas), which had 538 cases, equivalent to 1143 cases per 100,000 people.

Although it doesn't make for pleasant reading the figures show the number had dropped from the previous year. In 2013, there were 1214 per 100,000 people a drop of 70.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board figures have remained static with it almost half the numbers compared with the Lakes DHB. Both 2013 and 2014 were 689 per 100,000 people.

A Lakes District Health Board spokeswoman says the board views sexual and reproductive health as part of a person's overall health and wellbeing.

She says there are a number of reputable services helping to bring down high number of STIs in the region.

'Our DHB region is fortunate to have some very good sexual health services that are well established and the DHB believes that people in our community are confident to use these services.

'The services are confidential, easy to access and they are free. So it is relatively straightforward for people to seek and receive help, without fear of being stigmatised.”

The spokeswoman says there were a number of reasons for the region having the highest rates of STIs.

'The higher numbers could reflect the large number of tourists who use the service,” She says.

'For locals, the figures reflect a higher incidence of low socio-economic communities in the Lakes DHB area, resulting in a higher incidence of poverty and related behaviours, which can sometimes include people having a higher number of sexual partners and having more unprotected sex.”

She says Lakes DHB is committed to continuing to make access to sexual and reproductive health services as easy as possible for people.

However, Tairawhiti had by far the worst rate of gonorrhoea infections of any DHB, with 149 cases in 2014, equivalent to 316 per 100,000.

This was down on 398 per 100,000 in 2013 but still significantly higher than Lakes District with the second worst rate of 128. Bay of Plenty was 57.

The lowest rates of chlamydia were in the West Coast (331 per 100,000 people) and Taranaki (451), which had the lowest rate of gonorrhoea.

Research also showed 28,000 Kiwis contracted the most common sexually transmitted disease, chlamydia, last year.

Eighty-three children under the age of one were also reported to have contracted the disease, according to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.

The research revealed infants born to infected mothers could contract the disease during delivery.

The report also revealed 83 per cent of chlamydia cases were most commonly diagnosed in females between the ages of 15 to 24 years.

Maori females aged between 15 to 19 years old were reported to have the highest estimated rate of the disease – more than twice the national estimate.

Gonorrhoea was found in 70 out of every 100,000 Kiwis.

Maori females aged 15 to 19 years were reported to have the highest estimated rate -- with 396 reported cases per 100,000 people.

That was more than three times the national rate.

Additional reporting Stuff.co.nz