Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of STIs.
The numbers of people in England who have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in each of the last five years are listed below:
Year | Number of people diagnosed with STI |
2012 | 450,430 |
2013 | 451,948 |
2014 | 451,948 |
2015 | 436,928 |
2016 | 417,584 |
In 2017/18, Public Health England (PHE) conducted a social media campaign targeted at young people aged 16-24 years old which aimed to promote condom use by highlighting the risks and consequences of acquiring an STI. The 'Protect Against STIs' campaign will continue throughout 2018/19 subject to the relevant approvals.
PHE’s national HIV Prevention and Sexual Health Promotion Programme issues contracts to HIV Prevention England (HPE) to conduct HIV prevention activities in populations most at risk of HIV infection and to the Family Planning Association to provide sexual and reproductive health information for the general population.
Since 2012 the national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme has provided quadrivalent vaccines that also protect against HPV types 6 and 11 which are the most common causes of genital warts, to young girls. In April 2018, PHE and NHS England have been tasked to implement a nationwide HPV vaccination programme for men aged 45 years or younger who have sex with other men which will be delivered through sexual health clinics.