Agenda and draft minutes

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A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/or if it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

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To receive the views of the following:

·            Claire O’Connor, Head of Sexual Health, 4YP

·            Adrian Kelly, Regional Teenage Pregnancy Co-ordinator, Government Office for London

The Panel received evidence from the following:

·              Mesfin Ali from the Pan African and Caribbean Sexual Health Project (PACSH)

·              Adrian Kelly, the Regional Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator from the Government Office for London

·               Claire O’Connor, the Head of Sexual Health, Contraception and Reproductive Services, NHS Haringey.

Mr Ali stated that his service was not directly aimed at reducing teenage conceptions.  Its main focus was on addressing the issues of HIV and Aids within the African and African Caribbean communities and this was what the project was funded to provide.  It provided a range of services including information, distribution of condoms and awareness raising across the community.  It also provided support for those who had been recently diagnosed with HIV.  Testing was actively encouraged.  The main focus of the service was on outreach work and it did this by working closely with local businesses and services that were used by people from the range of communities in question. 

They had approximately 50 fully trained volunteers working for them, whose role was to go out into the community and talk to people who were potentially at risk and build relationships and awareness.  70% of the volunteers were women.  They had a card which they gave to people which could be taken to the GUM clinic to arrange a test. Their aim in promoting HIV testing was to reduce the number of people who were undiagnosed.

Their Love Safely programme included specific reference to sexual health and infections and the provision of free condoms.  If they came into contact with under 16s., they referred them onto either 4YP or the Teenage Pregnancy team.  There was roughly an equal split between male and female clients on this programme.  As part of it, they had so far handed out 50,000 condoms.  They normally talked to clients before handing out condoms in order to ensure that they were aware of the correct way of using them, how to spot counterfeit ones and the need to observe expiry dates.  They also handed out female condoms and lubricants. 

The stigma attached to STIs and, in particular, HIV was the biggest barrier that they faced in their work.  In a number of countries where clients came from, homosexuality was illegal and this could provide an additional barrier in encouraging people to access services.  There were also issues with some faith communities.  In addition, there was denial of the problem in some communities. 

The age range of the clients that they worked with was 16 – 50.  They currently supported a number of teenagers in Haringey but most of their clients were in the 25-44 age range.  The overall number of clients that they dealt had increased by 25%.  There were currently more female then male clients.  They had undertaken pieces of work with 6^th. forms and CoNEL including presentations and workshops.  Some work relating to sexual health and teenage pregnancy had also been undertaken with schools.  They had also brought HIV positive speakers into schools to speak to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.