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A drug treatment designed to protect against HIV, PrEP remains unknown in certain categories of populations at risk. The Aides association has decided to launch a campaign to promote this treatment aimed at people who are far from prevention. The opinion of Pr Eric Caumes, infectious disease specialist, consultant at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris and author of “Sex The new dangers” published by Bouquins.
Women of sub-Saharan origin, Latino or North African men having relations with men… These are the categories of people “today still too far from HIV prevention“, estimates the association AIDES, which decides to promote a campaign which is intended for them, in order to sensitize them to PrEP, the preventive treatment against HIV.
PrEP, still too little used by certain populations
Indeed, according to the latest data from the Scientific Interest Group EPI-PHARE of November 2022, Prep users remain overwhelmingly “men, having sex with other men (MSM), aged 36 on average, residing in Île-de-France or in a large metropolis and among whom the proportion of beneficiaries of complementary health insurance or AME is weak”.
According to data from Public Health France, “out of 140,000 men who have sex with men who could access Prep, only just over 40,000 have started taking this treatment”. Young people and women are the main categories with the least access.
“A simple gesture can protect you from HIV”
The campaign, which will be held from January 23 to February 14, will take the form of visuals, videos but also small posters and detachable post-it notes, stuck in the street and near shops, to disseminate the contacts of the closest association, with the slogan “A simple gesture can protect you from HIV”.
For Camille Spire, the president of AIDES, “this tool (PrEP, editor’s note) is particularly aimed at people in difficulty with condoms, in particular women belonging to very exposed populations, often dependent on the goodwill of their male partners to protect themselves against HIV. This can also be the case for men who have sex with other men but do not identify as gay and have difficulty with condom use.”.
The opinion of Pr Eric Caumes, infectiologist
“It is important to remember that HIV prevention should not be confused with prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) because PrEP protects against HIV but not against STIs” call the doctor first. “When we detect a disease, we do not do prevention, we simply note the presence of the pathology. What I defend, personally, is safer sex or sex without risks, that is to say the wearing a condom, which is now more accessible for young people free of charge“.