The Government has “failed to heed” warnings over adequately
funding sexual health services amid “deeply concerning” data on
STIs in young people, the Women and Equalities Committee has
said.
The Committee finds Sexual health services (SHSs) to be under
severe pressure, funding has reduced while data for 2022, the
most recent available, shows that rates of gonorrhoea are the
highest since records began in 1918 with young people most
affected. In the same year syphilis cases reached a peak not seen
since 1948, the cross-party committee cautioned.
Such data “should be a wake-up call” to the Government, local
authorities, sexual health services, reproductive health
professionals and others in the NHS, and those delivering
Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) in schools, WEC
concluded.
Setting out a series of wide-ranging recommendations in its
report entitled ‘The prevalence of sexually transmitted
infections in young people and other high-risk groups’, WEC
called on the Government to “radically increase” the public
health grant to local authorities to a level that allows SHSs to
operate effectively and meet local need.
This must include the provision of face-to-face consultations to
those who need them, within 48 hours, and universal access to
free postal STI testing. Booking appointments and access to
online testing should be made available via smartphone app, the
report added.
In schools, the report warned of compelling evidence that
relationships and sex education (RSE) is “failing young people”
who, in the absence of authoritative advice, were learning about
sex and sexual health from online sources, social media and
pornography, exposing children to an unacceptable risk of harm.
The Committee called on the Government, school leaders and Ofsted
to place a greater priority on the teaching of RSE in schools,
and to do more to make the positive case for sex education - to
help parents to see that the provision of information on STIs is
a safeguard rather than a threat. The Committee repeated its
previous calls for the teaching of RSE to continue up to the age
of 18.
Effective STI prevention measures exist in the use of condoms but
their “use is falling”, the Committee warned, as it recommended
the Government must increase its promotion of the benefits of
condom use, using a tailored approach to those groups at greatest
risk of STI infection. The benefits of condom use must be a key
part of the curriculum, it added.
The report also urged the Government to step up its efforts to
increase take up of the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine,
including as a first step, by targeting the cohort of children
who may have missed out due to the covid-19 pandemic, adding that
SHSs should also be able to deliver the vaccine to all those who
would benefit from receiving it.
WEC called on the Government to fund a targeted public
information campaign on safe sex, with a focus on STI prevention
among young people and other groups at high risk of infection in
areas with the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections
and where rates of diagnosis are rising fastest.
Such a campaign, it added should be codesigned by those
communities, should normalise discussion of sexual behaviour and
be promoted in those online spaces young people are increasingly
turning to for advice.
The report called on the Government to work with the British
Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), the Faculty of
Sexual and Reproductive Health, NHS leaders, the Local Government
Association (LGA) and education bodies to develop the coherent,
cross-sector strategy on sexual health it committed to in 2019.
Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Rt Hon
said:
“Sexual health services are at breaking point. They are
underfunded and in many cases unable to provide the services
their local area needs. The 2022 data on STIs is a red
flag and should encourage everyone to do better. It is
not sustainable and an obvious false economy to substantially
reduce funding for sexual health services (SHSs) during
a period of increasing demand upon them.
“There is also compelling evidence that Relationships and Sex
Education (RSE) in schools is inadequate, including in relation
to contraception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), with
nearly half of children saying education in this area is so poor
they rely on finding information for themselves online. This
exposes children to an unacceptable risk of harm.
“The HPV vaccine is a remarkable step forwards in preventing
HPV infection, the potential to be able to almost eliminate
cervical cancer in this country is a remarkable opportunity. It
is a tragedy that so many are missing out on receiving the
vaccine and the vital protection it provides.
“A cross sector strategy on sexual health is urgently
needed to arrest and reverse the trend in sexually
transmitted infections, to improve take up rates of the HPV
vaccine and to address the troubling threat of antibiotic
resistance. In 2019, the Government committed to
delivering a strategy on improving the nation's sexual health. It
is unacceptable that five years later no progress has been
made.”
ENDS
