Cork Sexual Health Centre nominated for National Lottery award

The Sexual Health Centre in Cork has been nominated as a national finalist for the 2024 National Lottery Good Causes Awards.

The centre has been embedded in the city since 1987, providing information to the public on sexual health and wellbeing, sexuality and healthy relationships.

It offers a range of services, including rapid HIV testing, HIV support and counselling, pregnancy support, education and training, and an advice line.

The Sexual Health Centre is one of 35 national finalists selected across seven categories. The awards celebrate the work of clubs and individuals who have received support from Good Causes funding.

Each of the national finalists will receive a cheque of €1,000 and will attend the Good Causes awards gala event later this year in Killashee House Hotel, where the overall winner of each category will be named.

Hubs

Head of operations Muire O’Farrell said that National Lottery Good Causes funding helped the centre expand its Sexual Health Hubs project.

Launched in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic prevented staff from performing the centre’s in-person outreach work, the initiative saw the installation of sexual-health information stands in various public places around the city.

“The hubs offer free sexual-health resources and information on topics such as contraception and STIs, and access to free condoms,” Ms O’Farrell said.

“They’re designed to be LGBT friendly and gender neutral to reinforce the principle that sexual-health support and education should be universally accessible and free from stigma.

“The funding from the National Lottery allowed us to bring the hubs outside the city to the rest of the county. It also helped us to extend the range of products we provided for free at the stands.

“We’ve added menstrual products to the stands, along with a QR code, which brings people to a video that demonstrates how to use the product. The response was excellent. We regularly have to restock the dispensers.”

The Sexual Health Centre continues to take applications from vendors around the county for new hubs, but limited funding is inhibiting their spread.

Ms O’Farrell said she hoped its nomination for the National Lottery Good Causes Awards will help the centre extend its reach to marginalised groups who continue to struggle to access reliable sexual-health information, contraceptives, and sanitary products, especially people living in rural areas.