France can do better in the fight against sexually transmitted infections (IST). The National AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Council (CNS), invited to give its opinion by the Ministry of Health, believes that the fight against these infections must become “a priority of public health promotion policies”. For now, everything is to be done, notes the CNSwhich makes several recommendations that go in the direction of better coordination of the different actors.
In the school system first of all, educational staff as well as school doctors and nurses have a role to play in prevention through awareness-raising, judges the CNS, which advocates an improvement “in the current conditions of teaching education for sexuality”. Work must be done on “adolescent vaccinations” and “access to condoms and screening,” he points out.
General practitioners are other key actors called upon to play a more important role in public policy against STIs in young people. The Council also pleads for a “dematerialized offer of prevention and screening” by developing, for example, self-sampling for the screening of STIs.
An effort to be made in terms of vaccination against STIs
While the young people most exposed to STIs are often the most difficult to identify, the CNS also underlines the importance of strengthening the role of different mechanisms for young people, specifically “in the areas of addictions, psycho-social problems, questions relating to socio-professional integration “.
Strengthening the vaccination arsenal is another major task in the fight against STIs. In the CNS’s sights, the fight against hepatitis B (HBV) and papillomavirus (HPV) for which the Council calls for more awareness and expanded and free access to vaccination.
Prevention and management of #IST at the #youth, new Opinion of @CNShealth : https://t.co/SxMkrXBOQWpic.twitter.com/AAfN8TwZzd
– CNS (@CNSsante) February 7, 2017
Boys should also get the HPV vaccine
