From March 24 to 26, Sidaction invites the French to donate for research and the fight against HIV. To multiply advances.
- The Sidaction is being held on March 24, 25 and 26. Donations can be made by calling 110 or the 2017.sidaction.org website.
- In 2016, donations to Sidaction made it possible to finance 39 research projects. 56,600 people were placed on treatment, including 5,600 children. 101 disease aid and prevention projects were also supported.
- In France, 30,000 people do not know they are HIV positive.
- 150,000 people are living with HIV in France.
- Each year, 6,000 discoveries of seropositivity are declared.
80 euros is a day’s work for a young researcher. 200 euros, this represents a month of antiretroviral treatment of 3e generation for an adult living in Africa. This year, Sidaction is playing the concrete card. From March 24 to 26, the national campaign is launched on the various media. The French are called to help finance the fight against HIV and research. While much remains to be done, the last few months have witnessed great advances in France.
Self-test screening
As of September 2015, the HIV self-test was authorized for sale in pharmacies. But it is from 2016 that the device takes off. In one year, 14,000 tests were sold on French soil. This represents an average of 2,000 purchases per week. In the majority of cases, this was the first screening.
Free to access, the self-test is nonetheless costly. A first step was taken, in August 2016, when a decree made it free, through associations, for three populations at risk: people very exposed to the virus, those on the fringes of the health system and who would not have access no free screening, and people isolated for administrative, financial, social or geographic reasons.
Second evolution, at 1er January 2017: the self-test VAT drops to 5.5% – rate granted to basic necessities. The measure has the effect of reducing the cost of a device from 30 to 25 euros in pharmacies, 20 euros on the Internet.
Officially authorized PrEP
The antiretroviral Truvada for preventing HIV infection is undoubtedly the most talked about measure. After several rigorous clinical trials, France authorized, at the end of January 2016, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as part of a temporary recommendation for use (RTU). Last March, the indications for the drug were extended permanently. From now on, any person at risk of infection can receive Truvada, after prescription by a hospital doctor or practicing in a CeGIDD (1).
Under RTU, 3,000 people received PrEP. Hopefully the MA will make it possible to aim more broadly. Because the vast majority of beneficiaries are men who have sex with men. However, some migrants or injecting drug users are eligible for prescription.
Tanks can be tracked down
Triple therapies are effective in controlling HIV infection. But the virus persists in a latent state in some lymphocytes. A dormant phase that can last a long time. Faced with what are called reservoirs, specialists have until now been blind. But thanks to a CNRS team based at the University of Montpellier (Hérault), it will one day be possible to track them down.
French researchers have discovered a protein (CD32a) with particular properties: it is expressed only on the surface of infected dormant cells. Their elimination can delay viral production. It will take many more years before a diagnostic test or therapeutic approach emerges. But the hope is there.
However, there is a downside. The fight against HIV is advancing. Knowledge about the virus is declining, particularly among young people. According to a survey carried out by Ifop and Bilendi, one in three French people have misconceptions about the modes of transmission of the infection. The annual slogan has never seemed so justified: “Despite many victories, the fight is not over. “
(1) CeGIDD: Free Center for Information, Screening and Diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections.
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