Solidays: HIV prevention remains a daily battle

Doctissimo: Where are young people’s knowledge of HIV-AIDS today, in 2023?

Pauline Duverger-Michel : According to the results of an Ifop poll published last March on the question, 23% deplore “a lack of information on the subject” and say they are “poorly informed”. Between primary and final, students are supposed to receive three times two hours of sex education but in fact, they often only follow one session. We also noticed that it was attached to SVT courses and related to reproduction. It’s a good thing since sexuality does indeed have a reproductive function, but it’s not enough!

At Solidarité Sida, we offer zapping afternoons. The principle is to meet young people, in theaters or other places, for a time of exchange on sexuality, the prevention of STIs (sexually transmitted infections, editor’s note), HIV and answer all the questions that they can have.

Are received ideas still current?

Pauline Duverger-Michel : In the same Ifop poll, it appeared that 18% of respondents think that HIV can be treated with paracetamol! So yes, received ideas persist and it is our role to fight them. Today, this is more about prevention done in a positive way, the campaigns are based on support for sexual health in the general sense of the term: this includes issues of well-being, consent, different practices… through this positive discourse on affective and sexual life, we also discuss the risks and the means of prevention and screening, both for HIV and for all other STIs.

Regarding HIV, for example, we remind them that five liquids (blood, semen, seminal fluid, vaginal secretions and breast milk) can contaminate and that the virus needs an entry point to disseminate in the body: the mucous membranes such as the eyes, the mouth, the nose, the ears, but also the anus, the vagina, the labia minora and labia majora, the vulva and the clitoris.

In terms of prevention, do you also address PrEP with young people?

Pauline Duverger-Michel: PrEP is one of the tools for preventing disease and reducing infections. The existing protocol calls for screening for STIs every three months. This makes it possible to break the chains of transmission of all these pathologies and this treatment therefore falls within the framework of global prevention. At Solidarité Sida, we want to give all the keys to young people so that they can know what to do and who to turn to in case of need.

Are young people less afraid of HIV today?

Pauline Duverger-Michel : The approach to this disease is different today. In the 1990s, generations were decimated, the virus was scary and prevention was also focused on “punch” campaigns, because the virus killed and people had to protect themselves.

Since the 2000s and the arrival of tritherapies, the approach has been different with young people, who represent 13% of new contaminations. We encourage them to get tested, because with follow-up and medical care, the life expectancy of an HIV-positive person is sometimes even better than an HIV-negative person, due to the close medical monitoring they receive, which allows him to diagnose other pathologies more quickly.