Great Places has provided funding to a sexual health service aiming to raise awareness across Lancashire.
The £1000 funding has been used to part-fund the rebranding of “Patricia”, Renaissance UK’s vehicle that attends events to promote HIV and Sexual Health awareness in communities across Lancashire, including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool.
The vehicle provides in situ HIV testing as well as provide Pre-Exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) at events, with support from NHS Sexual Health clinical partners.
Anthony Harrison-West, Sexual Health Manager at Renaissance UK, said the new branding had helped to promote the work they do and encourage people to think about their sexual health.
He said: “We were struggling with the cost of rebranding Patricia as the cost-of-living crisis saw the price rise to a level we couldn’t afford.
“The money from Great Places has been a huge boost, allowing us to go to events and educate organisations and provide testing to people and normalise sexual health alongside all other branches of health provision.
“We have seen an uptick in engagement and people taking more interest in their sexual health, but there is a lot more work to do around the stigma of HIV and sexual health and Patricia helps us to get out into different communities.”
For more information, please visit ren-uk.com or call 01253 311431.
