Let’s Talk
What Sexual Health Week 2026 Means for Our Community.
Sexual Health Week is a UK-wide campaign, currently led by the charity Brook, running 14–20 September 2026 under the theme "Let's Connect!" It is about rebuilding real conversations with partners, with our children, with ourselves. In a culture of ghosting, scrolling and half-truths picked up online.
For the NBWN, this is not an abstract awareness week. It sits directly on top of data that shows Black women, on both sides of the Atlantic, carry a disproportionate share of the burden and the reasons are structural, not behavioural.
The Evidence
United States.
In the most recent CDC national HIV surveillance data (2024), Black/African American females made up just 13% of the U.S. female population but accounted for 52% of new HIV diagnoses among women. Their diagnosis rate 21.6 per 100,000 was more than three times the rate for Hispanic/Latina women (6.4) and about twelve times the rate for White women (1.8). Black women overall are also less likely to be virally suppressed and less likely to be linked promptly to care than other groups, even after diagnosis.
United Kingdom.
UKHSA's most recent England-wide data show people of Black Caribbean ethnicity have the highest rate of new STI diagnoses of any ethnic group. 2,370 per 100,000 population in 2025 e.g. for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, trichomoniasis and genital herpes alike. In London specifically, the Black Caribbean group made up only 9% of new STI diagnoses but had a rate more than double that of the combined White ethnic groups.
Research from the Health Protection Research Unit has repeatedly found no clinical or behavioural explanation for this gap. The drivers are socio-economic conditions, access barriers and how welcome people feel in the system, not individual choices.
In both countries, the gap in diagnosis rates massively outpaces the gap in population share. That's the definition of a structural inequity, not a personal failing.
Is It a Behaviour Problem?
Public health researchers point to the same cluster of causes on both sides of the Atlantic:
Access barriers: clinic hours, transport, insurance status (US) or simply not knowing services are free and confidential (UK)
Medical mistrust rooted in historical experience with the healthcare system
Stigma inside communities that makes testing or disclosure feel risky
Services that don't fully see intersectional identity: race, gender, sexuality and class experienced together, not separately
Later-stage diagnosis: Black patients are consistently diagnosed later in the course of infection than other groups, which affects treatment outcomes
None of this is fixed by telling people to "be more careful." It is fixed by trust, access and culturally competent care.
How This Actually Shows Up
As mothers. The fear is not abstract, it is "how do I talk to my daughter about this before the internet does it badly" and "how do I protect my own health without it becoming a family secret." Many women delay their own testing while prioritising everyone else's care first.
As partners. Disclosure conversations are hard in any relationship, but they are harder still when there is a history of not being believed or taken seriously by a clinician. That can mean avoiding the conversation with a partner altogether or avoiding testing so there's nothing to disclose.
As professionals and community members. Sexual and reproductive health is one of the least-supported areas of workplace wellbeing. Most organisations have a harassment policy but no real pathway for confidential SRH access, menstruation or menopause support or flexible time for appointments. That silence at work reinforces the silence everywhere else.
As individuals navigating stigma. Every one of these pain points is compounded by not knowing where free, non-judgmental, confidential care actually is or not trusting that it will be non-judgmental once you get there.
The "Let's Connect" Angle
This year's theme is a genuine opening. Authentic connection with a partner, a daughter, a friend, a clinician is a protective factor. Talking early, plainly and without shame about testing, contraception and consent is one of the few interventions that does not require a policy change to start working today. It also pushes back against the two extremes of digital culture. The misinformation that spreads fastest and the isolation of never discussing it with anyone at all.
What to Do With This
Awareness only matters if it moves someone toward care. For HealthTalk readers, that means:
Know your status. Free, confidential testing, including HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis is available through the NHS regardless of age, immigration status or reason for visiting. Home testing kits are also free through most NHS trusts.
Talk to your partner before you need to. A calm conversation about testing history and protection is a safeguarding step, not an accusation.
Talk to your children early and factually. Under the Fraser guidelines, young people in the UK can access confidential sexual health advice and care without a parent present knowing this exists is itself a safeguard for your family.
Ask your employer about SRH support. Confidential access to appointments, menopause and menstruation policies and harassment prevention under the Worker Protection Act are reasonable things to ask for.
If you are a survivor of abuse or coercion, sexual health services can be a safe, judgment-free entry point to wider safeguarding support, you do not have to disclose everything to be seen.
PrEP is available and works. If you are at ongoing risk, ask a sexual health clinic about PrEP directly; you don't need to wait for a diagnosis to protect yourself.
The data shows Black women are carrying a disparity that is not about what we are doing wrong, it is about what the system has not yet fixed. This week is a chance to close that gap one honest conversation at a time. With a partner, a daughter, a doctor or a colleague. Book the test.
Have the conversation. Ask your workplace the awkward question. That is what "Let's Connect" should actually mean for us.
Sources: CDC National HIV Surveillance System (2024, published 2025); UK Health Security Agency STI surveillance data (2025); Health Protection Research Unit in Blood Borne & Sexually Transmitted Infections; UKHSA London STI spotlight report (2023 data, updated 2025).
