Screening in France remains a voluntary process, the idea is not to blame those who feel concerned, nor to incriminate them. Everyone is free to practice their sexuality as they see fit, but if they protect themselves and others, it’s even better!
Ignoring screening after taking risks: this not only endangers one’s own life by delaying the medical management of the disease, but also poses significant risks to others.
While the AIDS epidemic seems to be stabilizing in France, the figures communicated by the Institute of Health Surveillance are concerning in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, with an increase in new HIV diagnoses between 2008 and 2009, an increase that is confirmed and intensified in the first 6 months of 2010.
In conclusion, statistical data from mandatory reporting of HIV diagnoses and AIDS cases in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur indicate an active and worryingly increasing epidemic.
In the PACA region, the AIDS epidemic is old, among the first in Europe. The first AIDS cases appeared almost simultaneously in the United States, Paris, and PACA.
The number of new HIV diagnoses in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is increasing, and the figures for the first half of 2010 are 18% higher than those for the first half of 2009 at the same time last year.
The situation is alarming!
The new HIV diagnoses in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur are linked to transmission through sexual relations. In 2009, 60% of them were related to homosexual encounters and 39% to heterosexual encounters. The 20-29 age group accounts for more than 23% of new HIV diagnoses.
In PACA, the highest incidence of new HIV diagnoses per million inhabitants is still in the Alpes-Maritimes (475 cases).
With 7,755 reported AIDS cases as of June 30, 2010, the PACA region is the second most affected region by the AIDS epidemic in France, after Île-de-France. The number of AIDS cases in PACA represents 11.8% of the reported AIDS cases in France since the beginning of the epidemic (PACA = 7.6% of the French population).
The Alpes-Maritimes with 2,952 cumulative AIDS cases since the beginning of the epidemic have a particularly high prevalence.
The advances in new antiretroviral therapies have enabled a very significant reduction in the number of deaths since 1996.
