SXT

Delivering proven solutions to address the global sexually transmitted infection pandemics

Globally, 11 sexually transmitted infections (STIs) transmitted a second and some of these infections (HIV and syphilis) are life threatening.  STIs are transmitted by sexual contact and between 12-40% of the sexual contacts will be found to have the STI.  Most infections do not cause obvious symptoms or signs so many are passed on unwittingly from person to person.

The SXT (www.sxt.org.uk) solution does the following: (1) effective sign post  to testing services (2) anonymous partner notification to warn sexual contacts of their risk and (3) targeted appointments for partners to ensure that they get tested.

SXT, at scale, will change the world because it will support the diagnosing and treatment of STIs to address the pandemics, save lives and reduce the costs of delivering care.

SXT was founded to effectively sign post clients to local appropriate services.  Three years ago we built the first provider & patient controlled anonymous partner notification (PN) tool to inform sexual contacts of their risk and to support them to get tested. In July 2018 we launched a booking module that enables sexual contacts to book appointments to get tested.  The PN tool supports clinics to meet UK PN targets and the booking module improved performance by 36% in just two weeks.  The booking module acts like a magnet to attract key 'at risk' patients.

SXT is a cloud based platform that has been written in Ruby on Rails.  The website uses responsive programming and 75% of users are on mobile.  The SMS engine and email are used to inform sexual contacts and support the booking of the appointment.  Agile client centered design has informed our development over time and we have worked with clinics staff and patients to deliver digital solutions that work.

Our goals over the next 12 months are:

(1) To grow / scale and begin to address the STI epidemics in as many countries as possible

(2) To translate SXT into additional languages

(3) Work more effectively with home sampling and testing services

(4) Explore addressing other infections such as tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections and other notifiable illnesses

Over the next three years we want to continue to build in the UK and then move to Eire, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand before adding in new languages and going global.

Once we begin to scale SXT to address sexually transmitted infections around the world we then plan to diversify to other infections such as tuberculosis which is the most common cause of AIDS related deaths.

SXT also has the ability to be repurposed to provide effective contact tracing for highly infectious diseases, such as Ebola & Influenza, because of its ease to set up and real-time metrics. 

The solution is web based and it is centered around providers who deliver STI testing and treatment services. 

Once a provider joins SXT they can market their services and provide HIV testing appointments for free.  SXT supports services to deliver effective partner notification [PN] (contact tracing) and save staff time.  The SXT booking module attracts key 'at risk' patients to providers to amplify their public health impact.

The SXT PN tool and booking module digitally curate the journey of the sexual contact to effective testing.  A virtuous circle is created around a key public health service.

SXT has 80% of the UK sexual health providers in its database and around 400 users a day.  The net promoter score for SXT is 8.6 out of 10 for the 14% of clients who give feedback when they chose a single provider.

We have 16 clinics using the PN tool (https://sxt.org.uk/pn/about) and one early adopter site started to use the booking module in July 2018 (https://sxt.org.uk/appointment...) with tremendous results.

We are serving clients by helping them to find testing services, informing contacts of their risk and facilitating access to clinics.  

In 12 months we would like to have 2000 users a day in seven countries

UK > Ireland > Canada & USA > South Africa > Australia & NZ

We plan to serve clients and clinics with the same effective offer.

SXT will be constructively supporting Fast Track Cities to end HIV transmission by 2030 with the potential to create Fast Track Countries.

In three years we would like to be in every continent delivering effective sign posting, partner notification (aka contact tracing) and targeted appointments.

Over this time we plan to broaden the scope of SXT impact by working with other infectious diseases.

The SXT Founding Director Dr Anatole Menon-Johansson is the clinical lead for the Sexual & Reproductive Health service in Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London, England.  During his Masters at the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health he cross registered at MIT and HBS and developed a keen interest to develop digital tools to tackle healthcare challenges. SXT has worked with the innovation agency BitZesty (http://bitzesty.com) for seven years developing the tools that you see today.

There is no charge for any provider to sign up and join SXT.  Likewise using the booking module for HIV testing is free.  SXT sells two products that compliment each other.  

The first is an anonymous partner notification (PN) tool for patients with sexually transmitted infections (STI) to inform sexual contacts so that they can identify a local appropriate service for testing and possible treatment.  

The second product we sell is a powerful booking module that enables clinics to create specific hypothecated appointments for user of the SXT website.  All appointments for sexual contacts are seamlessly linked to the PN tool.  The SXT booking module acts like a magnet to attract 'at risk' patients with targeted appointments.  

Both the SXT PN tool and the booking modules are competitively priced and both have been shown to reduce significant staff time to deliver a more effective service.  There is no set up fee and the provider only pays for their volume of usage.  As we deliver more great services our revenue grows too.  

Solve is an ideal partner to champion the solutions we have built because they understand technology, the importance of getting jobs done and solving world problems.

SXT needs to partner with champions and providers who are keen and able to harness the potential of digital tools to deliver more effective health care for the publics health.

The Solver community expertise, support and network of entrepreneurs is a powerful and incomparable asset.  Being part of this community would be a significant opportunity for SXT.

The first barriers for SXT is communicating the benefits to providers/payers/governments but this is getting easier with our analysis of powerful data showing clear impact.

The second is automating the addition of new customers and streamlining the training of users.

The biggest challenges will be addressing the cultural differences in delivering sexual & reproductive health services, multiple languages, IT and governance barriers in different countries.  

Solve has the network of experts and expertise needed to navigate these challenges so that it is possible to grow / scale for maximum impact.