Dunedin Sexual Health Clinic clinical leader Dr Jill McIlraith said she could not explain a drop in chlamydia in Dunedin, 1130 cases last year compared with 1916 in 2009, halting a seven-year upward trend in which infections increased 264%.
Dr McIlraith was keen to see the next annual sexually transmitted infection report, in May, to see how Otago compared with other areas, at a time Labour has claimed cuts to sexual health funding nationally has led to an increase in infections. It appeared Dunedin was bucking the national trend, Dr McIlraith said.
She hoped funding granted by now-amalgamated Public Health Organisations (Well Dunedin and Strath Taieri) would continue under the new Southern Public Health Organisation. The PHO, formed in October, combined nine Otago and Southland PHOs.
Dr McIlraith had sought but not received an assurance the funding would be rolled over in July. If it continued, the service could "regionalise" its efforts, under the single PHO, and the Southern DHB formed last year.
The clinic's efforts earned it the top non-clinical award at December's Southern DHB quality improvement awards, recognising a five-year effort to increase its reach into the community, and emphasise prevention rather than treatment.
Chlamydia was the only sexually transmitted infection monitored to include GP cases, through Southern Community Laboratories.
Based only on Dunedin Sexual Health Clinic and University of Otago student health figures, there were 10 cases of gonorrhoea last year, 12 in 2009, and 19 in 2008.
Syphilis was also down, with three cases last year, six in 2009, and seven in 2008.
Dr McIlraith said it was likely a "spider-web of causes" accounted for the drop. However, it was nice to think the clinic's efforts had made a difference.
The service had noticed an increase in younger people (12 and 13-year-olds) and older people (70s and 80s) seeking its services.
PHO funding allowed under 25-year-olds free sexual health appointments with GPs, while the DHB supported the Dunedin Sexual Health Clinic.
Southern PHO chief executive Ian Macara could not guarantee funding would continue. The PHO was reviewing the old PHOs' programmes to assign priority to those it would fund in the new financial year.
Funding for sexual health initiatives approved by the old PHOs was worth $140,000 a year. Southern PHO had $1.4 million for health programmes, he said.
