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Good sexual health enables healthy relationships, planned pregnancies, and prevention of disease.

It is important to all individuals throughout their life course and contributes to maintaining and improving population health.

Most of the adult population of England are sexually active and access to high quality sexual health services improves the health and wellbeing of both individuals and populations.

The Government has set out its ambitions for improving sexual health in its publication, A Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England (2013).

An updated version of this framework is expected in summer 2022.

Sexual ill health is not equally distributed within the population.

Strong links exist between deprivation and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), teenage conceptions, and abortions, with the highest burden borne by women, men who have sex with men (MSM), teenagers, young adults and black and minority ethnic (BME) groups.

Similarly, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection in the UK disproportionately affects MSM and Black Africans.

Some groups at higher risk of poor sexual health face stigma and discrimination, which can influence their decisions and ability to access services.

Essex County Council (ECC) has commissioned an integrated sexual health service, providing easy access to services through open access ‘one stop’ clinics where most sexual health and contraceptive needs can be met at one site, usually by one health professional, in services with extended opening hours and in accessible locations.