Emergency contraception should be added to the national formulary and condoms distributed for free, a long-awaited sexual health strategy unveiled on Tuesday recommends.
The strategy has now been opened to public consultation for feedback before it is finalised.
Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela launched the two-month consultation for the National Sexual Health Strategy 2025-2030 on Tuesday, and he described it as being “grounded in robust research”.
The strategy aims to be inclusive and equitable to all populations including migrants, people with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ individuals, he said.
“No strategy is perfect. It would be childish to expect it to be perfect in any way… This does not detract from the basic truth – that sexuality and sexual behaviour is individual, private,” he said as he called on the public to have their say during the consultation process.
The public consultation for this strategy will be open for two months and begins on 11 December.
To prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the strategy suggests providing free condoms to anyone aged over 16. Adding the emergency contraception pill to the national formulary will help make it more accessible, it adds.
The emergency contraception pill, also known as the morning-after pill, was not available in Malta until 2016 when it was made legal and started being sold over the counter at pharmacies.
Abela also kept to a promise made a year ago, as the strategy proposes free preventive treatment against HIV for those who are at risk of contracting the virus.
Treatments include PrEP and PEP: PrEP is a medication taken before sexual activity and reduces the risk of HIV transmission. PEP is a treatment that needs to be taken within 72 hours after a high-risk sexual encounter.
A long-awaited strategy
This is the first time that Malta's sexual health strategy has been updated in 14 years.
To this day, Malta's sexual health public policies are based on a strategy that was published in 2010 and was already considered outdated by GU Clinic doctors at the time of publication.
An updated policy was originally meant to be released in 2021 but was sent back to the drawing board, because the research it was based on was found to be years out of date. Its revision was further delayed by the COVID pandemic.
The launch comes just days after Malta held its first-ever rally for World AIDS Day, underscoring the importance of timely and effective sexual health policies.
Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci said it was important that everyday people felt a sense of ownership of the strategy, as sexual health was part of everyday life.
Superintendent for public health Charmaine Gauci urged people to have their say. Photo: Jonathan BorgThe strategy direction was aligned with a World Health Organisation action plan and other EU policies and strategies, she said. Available data was evaluated, various stakeholder meetings were carried out and current government policy documents were reviewed. The public was also surveyed in 2022 and 2023.
“The vision is that we need to ensure that all members of the population...are enabled and supported to receive reproductive support,” Gauci said.
Gauci also pointed out that Malta's rate of all STIs, except for chlamydia, is higher than the EU average.
Alexia Bezzina, a consultant in public health medicine, gave an overview of the strategy document and its recommendations.
Policy recommendations include
- Providing sexual health education for children, youth, adolescents and parents or guardians.
- Providing free barrier contraceptives to all the population aged 16 years and over.
- Adding the emergency contraception pill to the national formulary
- Funding to provide free modern contraception and options for surgical contraception to all people. This will first be available to the most vulnerable groups.
- Including linguistic and culturally competent care for migrants.
- Introducing sensitive interviews for victims of sexual violence.
- Providing opioid substitution treatment and clean injections.