The High Authority for Health (HAS) wishes to change the legislation in order to better fight against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It thus proposes to modify the current legislative framework in terms of professional secrecy, which notably limits the possibilities of informing partners. “The objective is to offer the patient in whom an STI is diagnosed the possibility of choosing the way of informing his partner(s) and thus promoting the initiation of a notification process”, writes the HAS in a notice published Thursday.
“The idea would be that the health professional or a third party can inform the partner of a patient with the consent of the latter”, we explain to the health authority. A possibility that is currently not allowed by professional secrecy. According to the High Authority for Health, whose opinions are generally followed by the government, the possibility of accelerated treatment of partners (TAP) “should also be authorized in France”. Indeed, the current regulations do not allow it. Accelerated treatment consists of giving a patient diagnosed with an STI a prescription for the benefit of a partner, without prior consultation with the latter.
Break the chains of transmission
Such a change in regulations would allow “partners to be treated as soon as possible, especially in the absence of symptoms and if it is known that they will not go to a doctor or approach the healthcare system. health”, estimates the HAS.
The process known as notification to the partner(s) is a major prevention tool, she recalls. It aims to interrupt the chains of transmission, by reaching a population at higher risk, so as to minimize the associated morbidity and mortality.