Lesbian and Gay Foundation receives award for gonorrhoea poster

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

Manchester’s Lesbian and Gay Foundation (LGF) has been honoured for its sexual health advocacy work.

The LGBT charity received the ‘Best Poster’ award for its gonorrhoea awareness campaign at last week’s Manchester Sexual Health Network Awards ceremony.

The LGF poster aims to raise awareness, including the possible symptoms of gonorrhoea among gay and bisexual men, as well as promoting early and regular testing by using a short tagline “Gonorrhoea. Hard to spell. Easy to catch.”

In July, Public Health England revealed gonorrhoea cases among gay men had increased by a third in the last year.

Gay and bisexual men living with HIV are also more susceptible to infection from gonorrhoea when engaging in unprotected sex.

Health experts in the UK remain concerned by the increasingly aggressive nature of gonorrhoea, which is becoming harder and harder to treat, certain strains in Britain may eventually become untreatable within the next few years.

Rob Cookson, director of business development for the LGF, said: The recent rise in gonorrhoea rates highlights the importance of having a programmatic approach to reducing sexually transmitted infections, most of which disproportionately affect gay and bisexual men.”

He added: “Winning an award from peers within the sexual health field is always an honour, and it is a credit to the creativity and dedication of staff and volunteers at The Lesbian & Gay Foundation.”