One in 10 ordering HSE's STI home-testing kit 'were infected'

Professor Fiona Lyons, medical director and clinical lead for the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme, said the finding suggests that "in addition to being a very busy service with a good uptake, that we are getting the right people who will benefit from the service.”  File photo: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

One in 10 people who ordered an STI home-testing kit from the HSE this year had an infection, the clinical lead for sexual health said, amid plans to expand the service.

Professor Fiona Lyons, medical director and clinical lead for the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme, described the free service as a world-first.

“The very busy activity we saw in 2022 has continued into 2023, with almost 64,000 kits ordered up to the end of July this year,” she said.

“Of the individuals who are returning kits, about one in 10 have a reactive result. So that suggests in addition to being a very busy service with a good uptake, that we are getting the right people who will benefit from the service.” 

Up to the end of July some 63,886 tests were ordered. By that point 39,386 tests were returned with 3,876 or 9.8% showing a reactive result. Last year, the first year of the service, saw 91,123 kits ordered with 56,714 tests returned and 5,934 or 10.8% showing a reactive result.

Prof. Lyons, speaking at the Gay Health Forum 2023, said the service is being expanded. “Our plans and things we are working on this year include the incorporation of the option for ordering condoms and lube at the same time as placing an order for an STI test kit,” she said.

“That should be operationalised before the end of this year. In addition, we are going to pilot from September the online management of uncomplicated low-complexity chlamydia within the service.” 

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She said, however, the HIV PrEP service struggles with meeting demand, saying it is “extremely busy”. 

There are now 30 centres offering this medication which helps reduce the chance of getting HIV in certain circumstances. However, while eight new centres opened in the last year, many counties, including Kerry, lack a centre. 

There have only been three cases of monkeypox reported in Ireland this year, she also said. 

World Sexual Health Day

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday marked World Sexual Health Day. Sexuality educator, Leeza Mangaldas, urged parents to talk openly about sex with their children at the appropriate time, even if they had not received sex education themselves as young people.

“I think that dismantling shame is something that you are never too old to do,” she said. “In fact, many people have a lot of sexual shame that they have never really been able to unpack and sit down and think about. 

"I think while you need to be figuring out how to talk to your kids, you also need to be spending some time figuring out your own attitudes to sexuality.”