Sexually transmitted infections in Salford have soared to 'appalling' levels, according to a leading councillor in the city. Coun John Warmisham was responding following the presentation of the 'Salford Locality Plan, 2020-25' report by Dr Muna Abdel Aziz, the city's director of public health, to the health and social care scrutiny panel.
It said that cases of gonorrhoea, syphilis, chlamydia and genital warts had increased by 28 per cent between 2015 and 2019. Salford ranked 15th highest of 149 upper-tier local authorities in the country for syphilis diagnoses in 2019 and for gonorrhoea Salford is ranked 24th.
"The rate of new STI diagnoses remains higher among males than females," the report compiled by a team of public health professionals said. Salford is defined as a high HIV prevalence local authority as it has a diagnosed HIV prevalence of five or more per 1,000 people aged 15 to 59 years."
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Abortion levels are also high, with Salford ranked 13th in England for the rate per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44. "The under 18s conception rate and under 18s birth rate in 2018 were both worse than the national average.
The former is almost double the England rate," the report said. Coun Warmisham asked: "What are we doing to address this? Do we need more sexual health education? We have to look at this because it's appalling. I want to know why it has lept up like this."
Dr Aziz said her team had been looking at 'the balance between treatment and prevention'. "We need to expand prevention so that everyone has access to the service," she said.
She said she would be looking at Salford's sexual health contracts, adding: "We are going to have to invest in prevention and reduce our reliance on contract for treatment. It's a very balance to strike when funding has been cut."
Chair of the panel Coun Margaret Morris said the CouncWarmisham had ' raised and serious problem' and asked for a further report on Salford's sexual health crisis. Meanwhile, the report recommended a 'city-wide strategic sexual health partnership board to develop nad lead an all-age sexual health strategy and action plan'.
It would aim to improve sexual health outcomes for Salford residents through 'prevention and early intervention'. The report also said there was a need to improve access to all forms of contraception, emergency contraception and 'long-acting reversible contraception'.
It went on: "A skilled and competent sexual health workforce is needed across the city, therefore, understanding and identifying training needs."
And it added: "The burden of poor sexual health disproportionately affects some parts of our communities, therefore reducing inequalities needs to be the cornerstone of our strategy."
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