Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the rate of transmission of sexually transmitted infections among (a) men and (b) women over 50.

Jane Ellison

The Government’s Framework for Sexual Health Improvement (2013) set out the ambition for improving sexual health and wellbeing of the population including continuing to reduce the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Since 2013, local authorities have been mandated to provide genitourinary medicine (GUM) and integrated services for the early diagnosis and treatment of STIs; these services are open-access with no upper age limit. STI prevention programmes are the responsibility of local authorities, and there are a wide variety of local initiatives underway across England. Public Health England commissions a number of national HIV prevention activities and specialised sexual health information resources to provide educational and health resources to reduce the incidence of STIs including HIV in all age groups.

In 2014, there were 11,126 cases of new STIs including HIV in men aged over 50, and 4,103 cases of STIs including HIV in women aged over 50 years of age.