Stakeholder Engagement Report - London Councils

Some work undertaken by the National AIDS Trust indicated that the free media, such
as the Metro and Evening Standard, as well as local press, is routinely read by African
people and has a wider reach than African publications. Young people of African origin
were reported to be using social media as a way of ‘filling the gaps’ in their knowledge
of HIV and sexual health. The lack of universal PHSE within schools and the focus of any
HIV prevention messages in faith settings having a focus on abstinence were cited as
contributory factors to this lack of knowledge.
Condoms
At present there are a plethora of local free condom distribution schemes targeting
different populations including gay men, African people and young people, as well as the
Pan-London ‘Freedoms’ scheme (which distributes condoms to gay venues) and C-Card
(condom card) scheme for young people. In addition, free condoms are available through
GUM services, some GPs and some pharmacies.
There are a significant number of stakeholders who felt that messages about promoting
condom use had faded and that there needed to be more high profile promotion of their
use. This is particularly relevant in light of the evidence about HIV treatments reducing
the infectivity of positive people.
Costs vary across London and there can be multiple schemes operating in the same
borough, funded from different sources. Bulk centralised purchasing was seen as a
way to keep costs down. At present some gay venues buy additional condoms from the
Freedoms scheme. There was a view from many stakeholders that these venues should
have access to condoms (and lubricant) included within any licensing agreements.
There was no consistency in monitoring uptake of condoms, with many schemes having
no monitoring systems to identify who uses them. Some stakeholders were concerned
that this could lead to the possibility that some people might abuse free condom
availability. However, this is thought to be minimal.
Regardless of which methodology of provision was used there was consensus that access
to condoms needed to be scaled up and consideration given as to how to link this into
wider sexual health promotion messages around preventing STI transmission.
“Let’s face it - a condom costs very little, but for every time one is used we
are potentially saving the lifetime HIV treatment costs for a person, then we really
shouldn’t have a choice. Scale it up!”
“I know that some abuse the system and so having one central distribution point
that is carefully managed on a pan-London basis would save a lot of money and could
be evaluated effectively for each local borough. The local areas could then develop and
monitor their own c-card schemes.”
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Health Education and HIV Prevention in Schools
(including SRE)
The lack of consistent PHSE provision in schools was cited by almost all stakeholders as
representing a major gap in health education. Many young people in London are learning
about sex from the Internet and therefore there is no way to ensure that they are getting
factual information. The need to educate young gay men about safer sex, in particular, was
a concern expressed by stakeholders, considering the HIV prevalence rates in London.