Why France wants to make testing for sexually transmitted diseases easier than ever

Issued on: 09.07.2024 – 14:56

3 minutes

Since September 1, tests for chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea and hepatitis B no longer require a prescription in the French health system.

Medical laboratories now offer these tests without an appointment – ​​previously this was only possible in certain sexual health or HIV clinics.

“The aim is to reduce the number of missed opportunities. Some people do not get screened because the visit takes too long or because it is difficult to talk to a doctor about sexual health,” Maud Giacopelli, a public health specialist in charge of STI screening policy at France's General Directorate of Health, told RFI.

While most adults still have to cover 60 percent of the costs themselves and France's state health insurance covers the rest, people aged 25 or under pay nothing at all.

The reform, first announced in 2022, is part of a broader effort to prevent disease and improve sexual health – especially among young people, who experts say are most at risk of infection.

“Alarming increase” in sexually transmitted diseases

According to the latest available figures from the French health authority, chlamydia cases increased by 16 percent between 2020 and 2022, with 102 infections per 100,000 people.

Meanwhile, the increase in gonorrhea and syphilis cases is even more alarming: by 91 percent and 110 percent respectively. However, they are still less common, with 44 and 21 infections per 100,000 people respectively.

The two most common infections occurred in young adults: women between the ages of 15 and 25 accounted for 33 percent of chlamydia infections, while men of the same age accounted for 22 percent of those diagnosed with gonorrhea.

The data reflect a continental trend. In March, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported a “worrying increase” in gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia. All cases had increased significantly within twelve months.

According to the organization's figures, gonorrhoea infections increased by 48 percent across the European Union in 2022 compared to the previous year, syphilis cases by 34 percent and chlamydia cases by 16 percent.

Decline in safer sex

While testing is a crucial factor in containing the spread, experts also stress the need for better prevention.

Last week, the World Health Organization warned that young people in Europe are using condoms far less than they did ten years ago, putting them at risk of both sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

Among 15-year-olds surveyed in France for an international WHO study, 27 percent of girls and 23 percent of boys said that they or their partner had not used a condom during their last sexual intercourse.

This is despite government efforts to promote condom use, for example by making condom wrappers available free of charge in pharmacies for anyone under 26.

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Gaps in sex education

Epidemiologist François Dabis, chairman of the committee for France's national sexual health strategy, attributes the phenomenon in part to changing attitudes towards HIV and AIDS.

Since there are drugs to treat AIDS and even prevent HIV infection, “the virus no longer scares people as much as it did for years,” he told RFI. And condoms are no longer seen as the only protection against it.

Nevertheless, they remain one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect yourself from contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases. Dabis believes that the decline in their use is also due to a lack of sex education.

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On paper, schools have been legally obliged to offer sex education classes since 2001 – but “this law is very rarely or at least not sufficiently applied,” he said.

Education is the first step towards making better decisions about sex, stresses Dabis, and not only when it comes to avoiding infections.

“We should stop seeing sex education as a mere fight against threats. We need to teach young people about positive sexuality with all its different elements.”