For years, the story of Britain's economic recovery has been told in the language of interest rates and GDP, but there is a grimmer indicator of our collective health that has been climbing in the shadows. The UK is leading a major research initiative to combat record European outbreaks of syphilis and gonorrhoea, sexually transmitted infections that have surged to levels not seen since the post-war era. This is not a niche public health story. It is a working-class story, a story of underfunded clinics, of cuts to sexual health services, and of the silent toll of austerity.
The research, a consortium of UK scientists and European partners, aims to develop new treatments and diagnostic tools. It is urgently needed. Syphilis rates in Europe have more than doubled since 2010, with gonorrhoea cases up by 40%. In England alone, diagnoses of gonorrhoea reached a record 82,592 cases in 2022. Syphilis cases hit 8,692, the highest since 1948.
The numbers are stark, but behind them are people: young people, people on low incomes, people in the North where cuts to sexual health services have been deepest. The Terrence Higgins Trust has warned that local authority funding for sexual health has been slashed by 25% in real terms since 2015. In some areas, clinics have closed, waiting times have stretched, and the most vulnerable are left to navigate a system that is increasingly hard to access.
This research is a lifeline. But the truth is, a vaccine or a better test will only do so much if the infrastructure to deliver it is crumbling. The researchers are fighting two battles: one against the bacteria themselves, which are becoming resistant to antibiotics, and another against a political climate that has deprioritised public health.
The implications for the economy are clear. Untreated STIs can lead to long-term health problems, infertility, and hospitalisations. Each case costs the NHS money and reduces the ability of people to work and care for their families. The cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of investment.
It is no coincidence that the outbreak has hit hardest in the regions that have suffered from industrial decline and austerity. The North of England, for example, has higher rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea than the South. This is a story of regional inequality, of the same disparities that shape our wages, our housing, and our life expectancy.
The researchers are doing their job. Now ministers must do theirs: open the chequebook, restore the cuts, and treat sexual health as the essential public good it is. Because while a research consortium can produce cutting-edge science, it cannot on its own reverse the damage done by a decade of neglect.
