New sexual health and HIV digital vending machine at Moulsecoomb campus

A new sexual health and HIV digital vending machine has been launched at Moulsecoomb campus in the Mezz Food Hub, Cockcroft building.

The machines provide free STI testing kits for people without symptoms who want to check their sexual health or HIV status. The machines contain self-sampling swabs and blood sampling equipment which will be tested for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and HIV when returned through the post to the Sexual Health Clinic. The machines also have  oral HIV self-tests which are extremely accurate (99.7%) and give a result in just 15 minutes.

It is part of an initiative that has now placed eight digital vending machines around Brighton and Hove. The award-winning machines were developed by the Martin Fisher Foundation in collaboration with academics from Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2017 and funded by Public Health England (PHE) as part of the HIV Prevention Innovation Fund.

Prof Jaime Vera, Chair in HIV at BSMS and Trustee of the Martin Fisher Foundation said: “Our STI vending machines are now at eight locations across the city, and are helping to make testing easy and accessible for everyone. It’s great to see these are now available at the university for students to access.”