Queensland Health and Ambulance Services Minister Cameron Dick has announced that the state will receive an extra $5.7 million for sexual health services.
“Good sexual health is an important facet of the overall health and wellbeing of Queenslanders,” Dick said in a statement.
The minister says the extra funding will help improve Queensland’s approach to supporting, testing and treating those with STIs, HIV and Hepatits.
“There are challenges in this area of health, including rising rates of some STIs, issues relating to reproductive health, increasing numbers of people living with HIV, and the discrimination and stigmatisation that is often associated with sexual health related matters,” he said.
Dick says that $1.5 million of the new funding will go towards statewide programs for sexual health education, clinician training and consumer information resource development.
“On top of that, more than $3.7 million will be split across a number of priority regions and services, adding much needed skills and resources,” he said.
That sum includes over $1.1 million that will go to Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service over four years to enhance gender dysphoria services and hormone treatment to reduce waiting lists.
The funding is part of the state’s Sexual Health Strategy, targeting sexually transmissible infections, HIV and viral hepatitis, and the North Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sexually Transmissible Infections Action Plan.
