France to offer free STI screening for young - no prescription needed

Those aged under 25 in France will soon be able to get screening for free, and without a prescription, for multiple STIs including chlamydia, syphilis, and hepatitis B.

From September 1 this year (2024), tests for these infections, as well as for gonorrhoea, will be 100% reimbursed by the Assurance Maladie national health scheme for those aged under 26. Previously only the test for HIV has been free without a prescription, since January 2022.

The measure was confirmed in a decree in the Journal Officiel on July 8, after having been announced in September 2022 and outlined in the social security budget (projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale) in 2023. The complete list of reimbursed tests has only now been confirmed.

It also explains that on arrival at the clinic, the patient will be given a questionnaire to enable the medical practitioner to "direct them towards the most appropriate screening tests…in the light of their sexual practices”.

In the event of a positive result, the tester will either see the patient in person, or call them by telephone to refer them for relevant future care.

Data from health authority Santé publique France, up to December 2023, shows that in France in 2022:

• Chlamydia: 2.6 million people had at least one reimbursed screening test

• Syphilis: 3.1 million 

• Gonorrhoea: 3 million 

These would have needed a prescription, in contrast to tests after September 1.

‘Worrying’ European rise in STIs

It comes as STIs are once again on the rise in Europe, after having declined for 20 years in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. In March the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned of a "worrying" increase in STIs in Europe.

A study by the ECDC showed that in 2022, in the European Union, cases of gonorrhoea increased by 48% (with 70,881 cases), cases of syphilis rose by 34% (35,391 cases) and chlamydia by 16% (216,508).