Marisol Touraine has just authorized the dispensation of Truvada in the CeGIDD. AIDES welcomes this decision “which will facilitate access to PrEP for the populations most exposed” to AIDS.
In one decree published on Friday June 10 in the OJ, the Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine, authorizes the dispensation of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) against HIV/AIDS in the brand new free information, screening and diagnosis centers (CeGIDD). This measure puts an end to the hospital exception in terms of prescription and will simplify access to this new preventive method. “One more step towards the end of the epidemic”, welcomes theAIDES association who has been campaigning for several years for access to PrEP in France.
Authorized since January 2016 in France, the drug Truvada has already been prescribed to more than 700 people at high risk of contamination, these activists recall. An “encouraging” start, but the prescription restricted to the hospital environment represented an obstacle to its accessibility, they lamented until now. “It is not enough for a prevention tool to be authorized for it to have an impact on the epidemic”, explains Aurélien Beaucamp, president of AIDES, in a press release. “It must also be easily accessible to the populations it is intended for,” he adds.
For those furthest from care
Because if PrEP is rather well identified by men who have sex with men (MSM), the associations agree that it remains, on the other hand, “widely misunderstood and underused” in other audiences. vulnerable. In particular the audiences furthest removed from care: migrants, trans people, sex workers. More rooted in everyday life, the CeGIDDs have the advantage of being more confidential and more accessible than the hospital environment.
Working in close collaboration with associations, these new screening centers will therefore be able to meet the target populations in order to inform them about PrEP and, if necessary, to prescribe it. “We very much welcome this decision by the Ministry of Health,” rejoices Aurélien Beaucamp. “Our association has been fighting for a long time to make this tool known, and will now be able to work on its dispensation: in Marseille for example, the CeGIDD piloted by AIDES will soon be able to open its first PrEP consultations”, he announces.
Eavoid further contamination
Rapid screening, HIV self-testing, and now PrEP, AIDS prevention strategies have been largely modernized and diversified in recent years, these activists in the fight against the epidemic welcome. “We will be able to avoid new contaminations, detect people earlier, allow faster access to treatment. So many new steps that will allow us to defeat the AIDS epidemic in France”, concludes Aurélien Beaucamp.
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