HIV screenings and discoveries on the rise in 2023

Nearly 5,500 people discovered their HIV status in France in 2023, according to data published by Public Health France.

Nearly 5,500 people discovered their HIV status in France in 2023, a year of further increase in the number of HIV tests, according to data published Friday October 11 by Public Health France. “With 7.5 million HIV serologies carried out in 2023, the increase in HIV screening activity has accelerated, driven half by the increase in use of the HIVTest system, screening without a prescription and free in the laboratory for insured persons, implemented from 2022″, also notes the agency.

Around 3,650 people were infected with HIV in France in 2023 (i.e. an incidence rate of 5.3 per 100,000 inhabitants), and that same year, nearly 5,500 people discovered their HIV status. After falling in 2020, the start of the Covid crisis, discoveries of seropositivity have progressed since. In 2023, this “The increase particularly affects people born abroad, particularly women infected through heterosexual intercourse and men who have sex with men.”observes Public Health France, emphasizing “the need to guarantee people born abroad access to care and to intensify preventive actions towards them”.

On the other hand, the number of HIV discoveries decreased by 10% over the period 2012-2023. This long-term decrease is more marked among homosexuals born in France, particularly among “a more frequent use of screening (…) allowing more rapid treatment of HIV-positive people, and through the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for some of them”according to the agency.

But late diagnoses remain frequent (43% of discoveries in 2023), representing a loss of opportunity for care and a risk of transmission of HIV to partners before starting antiretroviral treatment. At the regional level, the HIV epidemic remains marked by “a particularly worrying situation in Guyana, and to a lesser extent in Mayotte, the West Indies and Ile-de-France”reports Public Health France.