In a joint press release, the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF) and the Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions (USPO) welcome the possibility offered to pharmacists to offer HIV screening. The experiment, which has already started, could soon be extended to hundreds of pharmacies.
This is a new mission which further broadens the range of skills of pharmacists. HIV screening in pharmacies is being tested for the first time in France by six pharmacies in the Alpes-Maritimes of the CPTS of the French Riviera in conjunction with COREVIH PACA. These six pioneering pharmacies have trained in carrying out HIV TRODs and have been offering this service to their patients for several weeks now. They could soon be joined by others. As the unions point out, “several French regions (Guyana, Martinique, Île-de-France, Grand Est) are currently working on expanding this offer with the aim of seeing it extend to hundreds of pharmacies in 2025”.
Available without a prescription, the rapid HIV test in pharmacies is “anonymous, confidential, free and its reliable result is immediate”, remind the unions. While 5,500 men and women discovered their HIV status on French soil last year (i.e. 1,000 more than in 2022), this new act entrusted to pharmacists aims in particular to reduce the median time between contamination and diagnosis , which still remains far too long in France today (1.9 years). Strengthening screening to further limit contamination is the goal that local screening offered by pharmacies should achieve. “Accessibility and the national network of pharmacies potentially offer thousands of additional testing locations for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections,” underline the USPO and the FSPF. A new mission for pharmacists and an additional asset in the hope of achieving the overall objective defined by the National Sexual Health Strategy: eradicating the HIV epidemic by 2030.
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