Surging Mancunian population has created acute sexual health problem

Manchester’s population has surged in the last decade, and it’s contributing to an acute sexual health problem.

That’s according to public health bosses in the city, and has prompted two senior councillors to plea for more funding to tackle the problem. Demand for Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) — a drug used to reduce the chance of getting HIV from sex or injection drug use — has sharply risen in the last 12 months.

It comes after the city’s population rose by 10 percent from 2011-21, according to census data. That, combined with another 10 percent rise in demand for PrEP in the city over the last year, means resources are ‘insufficient to meet these demands’.

Try MEN Premium now for FREE... just click here to give it a go.

The letter from Coun Jon-Connor Lyons, a Piccadilly ward representative, and Coun Thomas Robinson, the council's health executive member, added: “Rapid demographic growth in the diversity and the number of young people/young adults living in the city, and the fact that many residents from surrounding boroughs are choosing to access Manchester providers for services, has put considerable pressure on our local system.

“The Northern, Manchester's Commissioned Sexual Health Service which is part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), have put in place a system to make Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) management as efficient as possible within the available resources and to try and make sure PrEP arrangements do not “take over” the provision of other services (e.g. STI screening for other cohorts).

“The additional PrEP demand this year has added extra pressure to the service. The latest data shows a near 10 percent increase in the proportion of individuals accessing specialist Sexual