The rate of Chlamydia cases per 100,000 people fell by over 60 in the Northwest between 2023 and 2024, a reduction of 17% – the highest in the country.
In real terms, Chlamydia cases in the Northwest fell by 4,831 in this period, from 28,110 to 23,279.
Every UK region saw a drop in cases, with an average drop of around 40 cases per 100,000 population.
This means England saw 25,254 fewer Chlamydia cases in 2024 than it did in 2023, from 194,143 to 168,88.
Women show higher rates of Chlamydia than men across all regions, with 11 more cases per 100,000 population in England in 2024.
In the Northwest this figure is much higher, where women have 51 more cases per 100,000 population than men.
This is because women are screened for Chlamydia more often than men, the long-term consequences of Chlamydia on women’s reproductive health being more severe.
Since 2021 there has been a push to screen more young women for Chlamydia under the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP).
The programme is proactive, offering free Chlamydia tests to anyone under 25 with a womb and/or ovaries.
This accounts for the age discrepancy in Chlamydia rates across England, where the ‘20 to 24’ age bracket has the highest rate of Chlamydia diagnoses – almost double that of the next highest.
In the Northwest 20 to 24-year-olds have a Chlamydia rate of 3,237 per 100,000 population, where the second highest bracket – 15 to 19 – has a rate of 2094 per 100,000.
Some of the reduction in Chlamydia rates is due to the reduced amount of testing.
There was a 10.7% decrease in the number of chlamydia tests carried out under the NCSP, from 673,102 in 2023 to 601,295 in 2024.
However, the drop in Chlamydia across England was steeper than the drop in overall tests, with an 13.0% decrease in the number of overall Chlamydia diagnoses, and an 18% reduction in diagnoses made via NCSP programmes.
This indicates a real decline in Chlamydia incidence across England, and across the Northwest in particular.
Image source: frolicsomepl via Pixabay
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