What we say about… Sexual health
Position statements ·
Sexual and reproductive health
| December 1, 2023
Our key messages
- Education and preventative actions to build resilience are as important as the provision of high quality sexual and reproductive health services.
- A whole system approach is needed to bring together reproductive health, sexual health and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), encompassing commissioning, strategic planning, service provision, prevention, and health promotion.
- Sexual health commissioning and service provision should embrace technologies and digital services that are evidence-based. This requires training, funding, and evaluation.
Our national recommendations
- Governments across the four nations should have in place a long-term, funded Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy.
- Appropriate funding for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP) is essential to meet the goal of zero new cases of HIV by 2030.
- Sexual and reproductive health services should be integrated to reduce fragmentation and empower individuals and genitourinary medicine (GUM), HIV and contraceptive services in England should be integrated to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and promote contraceptive choice.
- Strategies must be in place to improve access and uptake of services, especially for hard-to-reach groups.
- National bodies should prioritise support for innovative technologies, building on successes such as self-sampling HIV testing.
- Retention of GU trained and primary care staff, and an expansion of the workforce to include diverse skillsets is needed to meet the growing demand on services.
Our local recommendations
- All providers and commissioners/service planners should work together locally to ensure seamless, affordable service pathways and strong area based networks and partnerships.
- Local public health authorities (eg Integrated Care Boards in England) should work together to deliver an integrated approach to sexual and reproductive health in their local area.
- Commissioners and public health leads should utilise Practice Improvement tools and encourage sharing good practice to improve services.