Key Populations: seminar overview and presentations

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Key Populations seminar, Thursday 28 March 2019, 10-4.30, BMA House, London

Earlier this year, the Government announced a new goal to eliminate HIV in England by 2030. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, providers in the HIV and sexual health sector need to ensure services and interventions are reaching the key populations at risk of HIV. The trends in key populations have shifted since the beginning of the epidemic. This event sought to determine what those trends are, and what the implications for service delivery may be.

Although new HIV diagnoses are in decline, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise and disproportionately affect populations also affected by HIV: gay and bisexual men, and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people. Furthermore, the sexual health of people living with HIV and those taking PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) remains an important concern for sexual health professionals.

HPE hosted a free one-day seminar ‘Key populations: Understanding HIV and STI trends to help guide future prevention strategies’ on Thursday 28 March 2019 to explore these issues.

The event provided information for service managers, commissioners, public health professionals, community organisation representatives and clinicians on the current key populations and sub-groups affected by HIV and STIs in England.

During the course of the day we explored the latest HIV and STI data from Public Health England (PHE) with a specific focus on the groups most affected by poor sexual health, a clinicians view of the impact on sexual health of people taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), initiatives from community organisations and a commissioners perspective in light of the recent trends in HIV and STI prevalence.

Presentations