They also have the proper testing materials and incubators to grow gonorrhoea which GP's surgeries won't have.

BBC: Your comments

Tests on animals suggest that the substance may offer similar protection against other venereal diseases, including herpes, gonorrhoea and genital warts.

ECONOMIST: HIV microbicides

In addition, diagnoses of other sexually transmitted infections, notably gonorrhoea and syphilis, are rising - suggesting more people are having unsafe sex.

BBC: Record number of UK HIV cases

In that year 23, 000 British soldiers were hospitalised for treatment and the French government reported over a million cases of syphilis or gonorrhoea since the start of the war.

BBC: The fight against STIs