Ros Chown, a sexual health adviser (SHA) who worked in genito-urinary medicine across Cambridge, Wakefield, and Torbay, has died aged 71. She was an active member of the Society of Health Advisors in Sexual Transmitted Diseases.
Ms Chown was a strong advocate for the public health role of SHAs, focusing on reducing sexually transmitted infections through advice on safe sex, contraception, partner notification, health promotion, and counselling. In the early 1990s, she advised patients on new antiviral treatments for HIV.
She also provided advice and training on sexual health and HIV to other healthcare professionals, including GPs, practice nurses, and midwives. Ms Chown supported sex workers through the Wakefield Working Women’s Project and collaborated with local youth services, teenage mothers, and support groups for gay men.
After training as a nurse and qualifying in 1987, she worked at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge from 1988 to 1990, Clayton hospital in Wakefield from 1991 to 2003, and Torbay hospital in Devon until her retirement in 2019.