As of this month, getting tested for the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in France no longer requires a prescription – and if you're under 26, it's entirely free. The changes come amid a worrying rise in gonorrhoea, syphilis and other diseases passed on through sex.
From 1 September, the French health service scrapped the need to show a prescription to get screened for chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhoea or hepatitis B.
Medical labs now offer these tests on a walk-in basis – something that was previously offered only at certain sexual health clinics, or for HIV.
"The aim is to reduce the number of missed opportunities, when some people don't get screened either because it can take time to see a doctor or because it's difficult to talk about sexual health with a medical professional," Maud Giacopelli, a public health specialist who oversees STI screening policy at France's General Directorate for Health, told RFI.
While most adults will still have to cover 60 percent of the cost, with France's national health insurance making up the rest, those aged 25 or less won't pay anything at all.
The reform, first announced in 2022, is part of broader efforts to prevent disease and improve sexual health – especially among young people, who experts say are most at risk of infection.
'Troubling surge' in STIs
Cases of chlamydia rose by 16 percent between 2020 and 2022, according to the latest available figures from France's public health agency, with 102 infections per 100,000 people.
Meanwhile gonorrhoea and syphilis cases increased at an even more alarming rate – by 91 percent and 110 percent. They remain rarer, however, with 44 and 21 infections per 100,000 people respectively.
Young adults were most likely to contract the two most common infections, with women aged 15 to 25 accounting for 33 percent of chlamydia infections and men of the same age making up 22 percent of those diagnosed with gonorrhoea.
The data reflects a continent-wide trend. In March, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control flagged "a troubling surge" in gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia, all of which it said had increased significantly in the space of 12 months.
According to its figures, gonorrhoea infections rose by 48 percent across the European Union in 2022 compared to the year before, while cases of syphilis were up by 34 percent and chlamydia by 16 percent.
Decline in safe sex
While testing is a crucial part of halting the spread, experts stress the need for better prevention too.
Last week the World Health Organisation warned that teenagers in Europe are using condoms significantly less than 10 years ago, putting them at risk of both STIs and unplanned pregnancies.
Among 15 year olds surveyed in France for an international WHO study, 27 percent of girls and 23 percent of boys said they or their partner hadn't worn a condom when they last had sex.
That's despite government efforts to encourage condom use, including by making the sheaths available at pharmacies for free to anyone under 26.
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Gaps in sex ed
Epidemiologist François Dabis, who heads the committee in charge of France's national strategy on sexual health, puts the phenomenon in part down to changing attitudes to HIV and Aids.
With drugs available to manage Aids and even prevent HIV infection in the first place, the virus "no longer scares people the way it did for many years", he told RFI – nor are condoms seen as the only protection against it.
But they remain one of the simplest and most effective ways to avoid contracting HIV or other STIs, and Dabis believes the decline in use can also be blamed on a lack of sex education.
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On paper, French law has bound schools to provide sex ed since 2001 – but "this law is very rarely applied, or in any case not applied enough", he said.
Education is the first step towards making better decisions about sex, Dabis insists, and not just when it comes to avoiding infections.
"We should stop thinking of sex education as a simple fight against threats. We need to teach young people about sexuality positively, including all its different elements."
