The Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the move would help to further improve on the city’s recent successes in ending new HIV transmissions by 2030.
In October 2024, Liverpool City Council revealed that the city had seen a 7.5% increase in HIV testing, a growing uptake of PrEP medication, and a significant drop in late HIV diagnoses.
Luke Byrne, assistant divisional director of nursing, sexual health and HIV at axess sexual health, said the launch was an “exciting step forward in Liverpool’s mission to make HIV prevention accessible to everyone”.
He said the funding means “we can transform how people engage with their sexual health, bringing PrEP directly to those who need it most, in ways that fit their lives”.
It ensures communities which have historically faced barriers to healthcare, including LGBTQ+ people, can now “access prevention and care with dignity, privacy and convenience,” he said.
Mr Byrne said it would also extend access to those who may be at risk but have not traditionally seen themselves as needing PrEP, including women, “by making prevention simple and discrete”.