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Gathered within the framework of the General Assembly of people living with HIV, more than 160 HIV-positive people are formulating recommendations and demands to improve their living conditions and fight against the discrimination of which they are still victims.
Twenty years after the last General Meeting organized by AIDES in 2004, the General Meeting of people living with HIV on May 25 and 26 brought together people directly concerned. Through plenary sessions, round tables and workshops, they enabled the formulation of recommendations addressed to decision-makers – the public – and professionals involved in prevention and promotion in health and in the health pathway. and lives of people living with HIV, in order to improve their support and care.
Improving the care pathway for people living with HIV
These conclusions were presented on May 27 to the Ministry of Labor, Health and Solidarity, in front of health professionals, representatives of communities, public organizations, pharmaceutical laboratories, parliamentarians and the media.
The participants in the General Meeting of people living with HIV demand that the following recommendations be applied by health professionals:
- Ensuring a complete care pathway and comprehensive care for people living with HIV (mental health, living conditions or housing, illnesses linked or not to HIV, adverse effects, non-judgment, annual overall assessment, treatments, etc.).
- By involving people living with HIV, improve the coordination of health pathways in a multidisciplinary approach and ensure effective communication between different health professionals for the benefit of people.
- Guarantee continuing training and skills development for all health professionals on HIV to fight against serophobia in the medical and paramedical environment and to all those involved in the healthcare process (mediators, physiotherapists, psychologists, etc.).
- Given the strong needs expressed by people living with HIV, training health professionals when announcing the diagnosis must be strengthened and mental health fully integrated into overall care
- Take co-morbidities into account linked to aging, associated pathologies and medical history in the care of people living with HIV.
Fight against discrimination, inequalities and support the aging of HIV-positive people
The participants in the General Meeting of people living with HIV also formulate the following demands, aimed at policy makers:
- Develop and implement anti-discrimination policies suffered by people living with HIV (serophobia, homophobia, transphobia, racism, etc.)
- Create an observatory refusals of care, non-respect of medical confidentiality and, more broadly, discrimination in different areas (employment, school, etc.).
- Reduce territorial inequalities in care offers and monitoring of the health pathways of people living with HIV.
- To guarantee access to care for sick foreigners, the stay request file for care must be assessed by the Ministry of Health and not by the Ministry of the Interior.
- Develop policies favorable to the living and aging conditions of people living with HIV (deconjugalization of social assistance such as the AAH, introduction of the AAH for life for those over 50, continued employment, specific compensatory calculation for retirement pensions, access to and maintenance of housing, etc. .)
Today, 200,000 people live with HIV in France, inequalities, discrimination and serophobic violence are not diminishing, and new issues are emerging, particularly concerning the quality of life and aging of HIV-positive people.