Sexual health improvements to get extra £11m

An £11 million investment has been announced to help improve sexual health and tackle sexually transmitted infections.

Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson said: "Improving sexual health is challenging and it is important to recognise that it will take time. A good deal has been done already and in some areas, such as chlamydia screening, we are already leading the way in Europe.

"However, there is still a lot more to do and I recognise that there is a need for additional targeted investment in areas where the most pressing problems exist. This extra funding will enable further improvements to the way we tackle poor sexual health in England."

The money will target the most pressing sexual health problems, providing:

• £5m (in addition to the £10m already committed) to genito-urinary medicine services to address the backlogs and long waiting times faced by patients;
• £5m to support improvements to the test for chlamydia, the most common sexually transmitted infection in England;
• £1 million to improve contraception services;
• £400,000 of extra funding for existing HIV health promotion work.

The funding increase was announced as part of the Government's response to the Health Select Committee's report on sexual health. The response makes it clear that the Government shares many of the concerns expressed earlier this year by the Committee and details how these will be addressed through continued implementation of its Sexual Health and HIV Strategy.

The national strategy launched in 2001 is the first ever strategy dedicated to sexual health and HIV.

It represents the Government's long term commitment to improve the population's sexual health, working towards safer sexual behaviour and modernised services.

(SP)