News & Views

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month.

In the UK alone, more than 3,200 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. While it can affect people of all ages, cervical cancer is also one of the most preventable cancers, and it could be the very first cancer to be eliminated globally.

When public money and people’s health are at stake, procurement must be more than a box-ticking exercise — it has to be rigorous, transparent and focused on outcomes. Sandra Milburn, procurement lead for the Sexual Health London (SHL) e-service re-procurement, led exactly that kind of process. Here she explains how the team built a fair, robust competition that prioritises value for councils, and most importantly, service quality for the people who use the service.

Dating apps could play a bigger role than just helping people find matches. New research commissioned by the London Sexual Health Programme reveals that almost six in ten young people would be more likely to use a dating app if it offered trusted advice and support around sexual health and relationships. The findings highlight a clear opportunity for app developers to play a bigger role in promoting wellbeing and healthy communication among young app users. 

The London Sexual Health Programme was delighted to celebrate the launch of the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (CoSRH) at the House of Commons, alongside the unveiling of two ground breaking reports on post-pregnancy contraception (PPC).

For the first time, an HIV prevention injection will be offered on the NHS in London, marking an important milestone in the UK’s ambition to end new HIV cases by 2030.

It’s the time of year for pumpkin spice lattes and the release of new HIV data, providing us with an opportunity to reflect on our progress, to celebrate what’s worked and to acknowledge the areas in which we need to do better. This year’s figures for London are striking we have cause for optimism but as the nature of the challenge evolves so must our approach.

I have worked in Sexual and Reproductive Health in London as a Consultant since 1994 and for many years have raised the same concern: we do not talk enough about contraception. Abortion rates in London remain high and are rising, yet opportunities to promote and improve access to contraception are often missed.

Sexual Health Testing Week takes place from 15th – 21st September this year, coinciding with the start of the new academic year and Freshers Week at many universities across the UK. It’s the perfect moment to highlight how quick, easy and important it is to test for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

I’ve always been drawn to innovation, especially in digital health. Throughout my career, I’ve pushed to modernise services, which is why I got involved with the London Sexual Health Programme..

Today, we're not just marking a shift in clinical practice, we're recognising a moment of progress in the fight against sexually transmitted infections.

The introduction of DoxyPEP (doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis) into UK sexual health services supported by national guidelines from BASHH represents a genuine leap forward. For many people, this new option offers more than just medical prevention of an infection, it means we can genuinely move from services being focussed on diagnosis and treatment, to prevention.

In London, residents can access sexual health services from any borough, a valuable model of open access. But behind the scenes, this freedom of choice creates costly cross-charging between boroughs, especially when people visit clinics outside their area for routine, asymptomatic testing.

What if you could order an STI test as easily as you check your dating apps?

That’s exactly what The Love Tank CIC, Grindr, and Sexual Health London (SHL) did, launching a pilot project using pop-up messages within Grindr to offer free postal STI test kits to users.