Sexual Health Planning for the 2012 Game: Information and Research Group

1. The London Sexual Health Programme Sexual Health Planning for the 2012 Game: Information and Research Group Dr Gary Brook Central Middlesex and Northwick Park Hospitals

2. The London Sexual Health Programme Background • There is virtually no published research on the impact of previous Olympic Games on changes in rates of STIs and HIV in the host countries/cities. • Similarly, we have little information on the impact of previous Olympics on the use of sexual health services. • A small study from Sydney STI clinic reported • an increase in new patients by c.10%, • a doubling of the proportion of new patients from abroad • a doubling of patients with symptoms • and a doubling of patients with acute bacterial STIs

3. The London Sexual Health Programme Background (2) • The London Sexual Health Programme 2012 Olympics Planning Group convened a subgroup to look at surveillance, information gathering and research. • Membership: Dr. Gary Brook (chair), Prof. Jackie Cassell (University of Brighton), Dr. Gwenda Hughes (HPA), Dr. Paul Crook (HPA/SW London HPU), Dr. Catherine Mercer (UCL/Mortimer Market), Dr. Katherine Coyne (Homerton Hospital) and Dr. Helen Maguire (HPA/HPU) • The remit of this group is to: • look at the how sexual health service usage and STI rates are affected by Olympic visitors. • The Aims of the group are to: • To create a comprehensive data set to show any effect on sexual health and service usage due to the 2012 Olympics • Develop a descriptive model of the impact of Olympic visitors on sexual health that might be used in the planning for future large events in the UK (and beyond) e.g. for the football world cup, Olympics etc.

4. The London Sexual Health Programme Work Plan • The group has decided on a ‘layered’ approach to its achieve its remit: • Use of routine surveillance data • Enhanced surveillance • Focused research

5. The London Sexual Health Programme 1. Routine Surveillance Data • With the help of HPA we will analyse routine sexual health data-bases (SHHAPT/GUMCAD, SRHAD, GRASP, possibly the GPRD) for the period of the Olympics and para-Olympics and compare with the same periods in the year before and after. This will be concentrated on the areas most affected i.e. London, Home counties and Weymouth • Look at attendance and STI/HIV trends and contraception service usage

6. The London Sexual Health Programme 2. Enhanced Surveillance • We have approached a number of GUM clinics who have expressed a willingness to use extra attendance codes that will define each patient’s status in relation to the Olympics e.g. local resident, UK visitor, International visitor etc. • We have confirmed that all current clinic softwares can produce these attendance reports • We hope to recruit most/all clinics in London and Weymouth

7. The London Sexual Health Programme 3. Focused Research • We plan to recruit 6-7 sentinel clinics to enrol patients for a self-completed questionnaire about their recent sex life and routes into the service. This is based on the validated and published MSTIC study and will cover the 6 week Olympic period • The STI bacterial reference lab. also want to do a parallel study looking at changes in circulating strains of gonorrhoea, hopefully tying this in with information from the surveillance and questionnaire data. • We are currently applying for research funding for this part of the work • This part of our work plan is most at risk in that if funding bids are not successful it cannot take place, although the other parts of our work would not be compromised.

8. The London Sexual Health Programme Conclusions • For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games a country (the UK!) should be able to produce data to show how the mass migration of visitors affects sexual health service use and STI/HIV rates in the host country • This will leave a legacy of work that will inform sexual health service planning for future large-scale events in the UK and abroad.