Sexual diseases on rise in city says survey

A new report has found that some of the most severe sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates have surged in Sheffield.

A dataset recently published by the Local Government Association (LGA) has revealed that the number of people diagnosed with syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea in Sheffield had increased in the last couple of years, especially from 2021 to 2022.

While there were 3.1 people out of 100,000 with syphilis in Sheffield in 2021, this is now 13.2/100,000 people in 2022. The average for English single-tier and county councils was 19.8 in 2022.

With chlamydia, Sheffield passed the average (396.6) with 441.7 per 100,000 people diagnosed with the disease in 2022. It’s a surge from 326.3/100,000 from the previous year. Also, there were 146.1 people of 100,000 diagnosed with gonorrhoea which is also up from 2021 (97.2/100,000).

Greg Fell, the director of public health in Sheffield, said the reasons behind the increasing numbers are complicated but numbers were going up everywhere intheUK.

He said a lack of government funding and knock-on effects from the pandemic were partly to blame.

He said: “It’s worth saying Sheffield is not peculiar, it’s happening up and down the country, Sheffield is about average – but it’s happening, there is zero doubt about that.

“There are four reasons, none of which is definitely provable but I suspect all are in the mix.

“Most importantly, long-term funding structural underfunding of sexual and reproductive health combined with cuts in the budget that I pay for. That is in the mix, let’s pretend that is not in the mix. Those are the decisions made in Whitehall, not at town hall.”

He added: “There is also a hangover from the pandemic.”

The fourth issue was a shift in sexual behaviour.