The sexual health center, located in a Parisian hospital, offers screening consultations for chlamydia and gonococcus, syphilis, hepatitis B and C and HIV, as well as medical follow-up. The service is free and open to everyone, including undocumented migrants who are not registered with French Social Security.
Herman, 27, has just had his blood test taken in a room in the sexual health center, located on the 6th floor of the Hotel Dieu, a hospital in the center of Paris. He will receive the results within a week.
“My new girlfriend asked me to take the HIV test [Sida]”, says this young Guinean in France for 3 years. “She lost her mother very young, and some time ago she learned that her mother had died of AIDS. She too took the test a month ago and it was negative. Now it’s my turn. None of my former girlfriends have been sick to my knowledge, but I prefer to check.”
In this health center, which depends on the City of Paris and the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP), screenings for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are free and anonymous. “Our welcome is unconditional”, explains Dr Florence, co-responsible for the place. In other words, here, no need to be registered with the French Social Security. Migrants in an irregular situation therefore have access to it as easily as others.
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Free reception with or without an appointment
The staff has a telephone translation service, which allows them to receive foreigners who do not speak French.
“People can make an appointment by email (in French and in a foreign language) or on Doctolib, or come here without an appointment,” says Dr Florence.
On site, a multidisciplinary team made up of a dermatologist, a gynecologist, a psychologist-sexologist, nurses, a marriage counselor and a social worker, among others, therefore offers STI screening consultations. , as well as treatments to prevent certain infections (HIV Prep treatment) and specialized consultations (sometimes paying).
Hepatitis B under surveillance
Among the infections treated are syphilis, hepatitis B and C and HIV.
“The number of cases of hepatitis B is higher in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia”, explains Dr. Delphine Mattei, who carries out the day’s consultations. Also migrants who come from these regions are more particularly exposed.
A blood test allows to know if the patient had the disease and recovered from it, or if he is chronically ill, so that he can be followed or simply monitored if the disease is dormant. “On the other hand, as it is a sexually transmitted disease, you should not hesitate to offer to vaccinate the partner [il existe un vaccin contre l’hépatite B]“, says Dr. Mattei.
Self-tests to detect HIV
Among people from sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is another more frequently detected STI. An infection that most migrants contract once they arrive in France, following unprotected sex according to data from Public health France.
Carried out within the center, a classic blood test or a rapid test can detect the presence of the virus. “We also have screening self-tests [à partir d’une goutte de sang]which the person can take with them to offer their partner or relatives to do it from home”, adds Dr. Florence.
Last year, some 37 cases of HIV were discovered at the sexual health centre, of which more than a quarter were revealed to expectant mothers during a test carried out during a consultation for follow-up pregnancy.
Indeed, the premises of the structure adjoin those of a maternal protection center (CPM Cité), where the medical, psychological and social monitoring of pregnant women in very precarious situations is carried out, including many migrant women on the street.
The latter are more at risk of being infected with the AIDS virus in France. Their extreme precariousness makes them vulnerable to sexual violence suffered on French territory, which quadruples their risk of HIV infection, according to a report by the National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) published in 2018.
The staff of the sexual health center is also trained to detect such violence and offers psychological consultation if necessary.
HIV remains taboo among African migrants
In some cases, when future fathers accompany pregnant women, they also agree to be tested, say caregivers, who regret that it is not more frequent. “HIV is still taboo among some people, especially in Africa. People are afraid of being stigmatized and rejected by their families, so they don’t get tested,” laments Dr. Florence.
“Today there are many people who live well with this virus without transmitting it to their partner thanks to medical treatment”, explains the health professional. “If on the contrary, they do not get tested, it can get worse and they risk transmitting it to other people. [par voie sexuelle]”.
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“It’s nothing to be ashamed of to catch a sexually transmitted disease when you have an active love life,” continues Dr. Florence. “The most important thing is to wear a condom with the new partner from the beginning to the end of sexual intercourse and to do tests regularly when there is a change of partner”.
Other, less well-known STIs are also detected and monitored at the sexual health centre, among which we find the chlamydia et the gonococcusleading the infections treated.
They do not always show symptoms, sometimes urinary discomfort (burning), or unusual yellow discharge in women. However, these two STIs are to be taken seriously because they can cause sterility in women and testicular infections in men. They are detected by taking samples from the urine, vagina, or sometimes the throat and anus depending on sexual practices.
Sexual Health Center
Telephone: 0142348300 / Email: [email protected]
Opening hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday, except Tuesday (opening from 1:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.), with or without an appointment
Address: Hôtel Dieu, 1 place du Parvis Notre-Dame (6th floor – gallery A1), Paris. Metro: Cité (line 4) / Hôtel de Ville (lines 1 and 11) / Châtelet (lines 1, 4, 7 and 14).
