Two thirds of London councils are cutting money for sexual health
By Michal Skýpala
More than two thirds of London boroughs are planning to cut on treatment and testing of STIs (sexually transmitted infections). UK's capital has the highest rate of them in the country and the future of sexual health is a big concern.
Public Health England in a report last year already warned that local councils could not maintain their current level of sexual health services, because of forced cuts from national level. The UK Government has cut public health budgets by a whopping £800m over six years.
According to data gathered by TBIJ, Camden is the borough that is cutting the most compared to last year, slashing the funding by more than a third. Richmond upon Thames, Southwark and Croydon also will spend significantly less than last fiscal year.
Ten councils on the other hand are raising the funds for STI testing with Hounslow coming in the first spot.
Of the top 20 local authorities in England with the highest rates of new STIs, 17 are in London. Alarming trend is that the councils cutting funds to diagnosis and treatment are the ones that have rising amount of new cases.
Lambeth, Southwark and Kensington and Chelsea had the highest rates of new infections in last year and all of them are missing funds. In a map we highlight the cuts in London boroughs, where bigger size of the point also shows higher amount of new cases of STI's.
Guardian reported last year that closing sex clinics and unavailability of the self-testing kits could lead to 'an explosive increase' in STI rates in London.
The self-testing scheme was supposed to be rolled out across 27 of the capital’s 32 boroughs from 1 May of last year. But it is still not fully functioning as it slowly started this January, adding participating boroughs over the past two months.
Another concern for lack of public health funding is how it is going to affect unwanted pregnancies. Last year research by the Advisory Group on Contraception has found that in 2015–2016, more than one in six local authorities decreased their spending on it.
London councils seemed to be extremely split on if contraception services are a priority. Camden is again leading the cuts, with putting zero money for next year. However, for example Lewisham more than doubled its budget on contraception from the last year.
To see if the cuts are put in right places we highlighted budget changes with the rate of teenage pregnancy. Islington is slashing funds to quarter of what it was last year, even though it has higher rates of teenage pregnancies than London average.
