HIV screening in pharmacies: “We are not going to revolutionize things but it is a door that we are opening”

How is the pharmacy screening carried out?

There is first a preliminary interview with the person. This will potentially lead to a confidentiality zone in the pharmacy where the screening will be carried out. This is a test where we will take a little blood from the finger. We will have different reagents to mix in test tubes. It’s a bit the same principle as Covid tests but with different reagents. But carrying out the test is not the alpha and omega, it is also a way of communicating. This will make it possible to include as many people as possible in a treatment protocol. We are not going to revolutionize things but it is a door that we are opening. The goal is also to target people who already have HIV so that they are aware of their HIV status, because this is not always the case.

What happens in the event of a positive result?

You should already know that today there are solutions to live normally, this helps to calm down if the result is positive. When this is the case, we will support the person, we will contact Corevih and put them into a care protocol. It’s not so much the number of tests carried out, it’s mainly the number of people who will take the process.

Are pharmacists trained for this?

Each pharmacist can train by contacting associations and Corevih. For the support, the interview before the test, the way we will get the result etc., there is theory and practice. Delivering this kind of bad news is not easy. This was also the fear of many pharmacists but I must say that they will be well supported in this process. The message was sent to all pharmacies in the east of the department. Six are responding to the call today but this could increase if pharmacists request it.

Why is the east of the department leading this experiment?

Because our territorial professional health community (CPTS) is very dynamic. We managed to motivate people to carry out this experiment. Here we have two borders, with significant tourist flows and festive places. We must therefore be vigilant about potentially risky behaviors. All this makes the territory interesting for opening an additional prevention door.