{"id":491080,"date":"2025-10-11T13:27:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491080\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T13:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:27:13","slug":"report-shows-stark-gender-gap-in-hiv-prevention-across-west-midlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491080\/","title":{"rendered":"Report shows &#8216;stark&#8217; gender gap in HIV prevention across West Midlands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Government figures found that 75% of men who have sex with men, who were identified as having a need for PrEP by NHS sexual health services in England, had started or continued to take it in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, women who have sex with men now account for the highest proportion of new HIV diagnoses in England.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Some in the region are being<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c9vedwxv0m7o\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> invited to take part in a new clinical trial<\/a>, but women were being &#8220;left behind&#8221;, said Sophie Strachan, of women&#8217;s HIV charity the Sophia Forum,<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There are already examples of great work happening across the West Midlands \u2013 now we need to build on that and ensure every woman has access to the support she deserves,&#8221; she said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The figures were released by the UK Health Security Agency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/statistics\/hiv-annual-data-tables\/hiv-testing-prep-new-hiv-diagnoses-and-care-outcomes-for-people-accessing-hiv-services-2025-report\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in its annual report on HIV testing and prevention. , external<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Local peer-led initiatives can make a real difference, added Dr Prita Banerjee, of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Birmingham event would be a &#8220;valuable opportunity to share what&#8217;s working and explore how we can scale up these kinds of approaches across the region,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The meeting will discuss findings from the national policy report Systematically Excluded and Ignored, which reveals how women have been consistently underserved in the UK&#8217;s HIV response, organisers said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Peter Wickersham, of drug company Gilead Sciences, which has helped organise the  meeting, added: &#8220;While national policy sets the direction, it&#8217;s local action \u2013 tailored to community needs \u2013 that drives real change&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Government figures found that 75% of men who have sex with men, who were identified as having a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-491080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}