To combat the resurgence of cases of infections in Chlamydia and Gonococcus, Health Insurance announced on Monday the launch of a screening kit by free self-pronouncement and delivered at home, for young people aged 18 to 25.
Available from July 1 for women, the online kit of the kit will be extended to men “during the second half of”, according to a CNAM press release.
The request can be made directly on the Ameli website, after a “quick questionnaire of ten questions”. The kit will be delivered “at the place of its choice”, and it will then be necessary to return the tube containing the self-pronouncement in a laboratory.
“The young person (will) be warned of the availability of his results by SMS within five working days,” said health insurance.
Continuously increasing since the 2000s, bacterial sexually transmitted infections (IST) are “a public health issue due to the serious risks that they present for both women and for men”, such as infertility or the risk of extra-uterine pregnancy, underlined health insurance.
“Chlamyweb”
Between 2021 and 2023, the cases of gonorrhea jumped 59% in men and 46% in women, while cases of chlamydiosis increased by 10% in men, according to Public Health France.
“Even in the absence of a symptom”, it is possible to carry an STI, “and to transmit it,” recalled the organism, “which is why screening is an essential tool for the fight against the dissemination of these diseases.”
The launch of the kit is part of “My IST test”, which has allowed the under 26 to be tested for free and without prescription for four infections: Chlamydia trachomatis, gonococcus, syphilis and hepatitis B.
According to health insurance, sending a self-pronouncement kit has already shown its effectiveness during the “Chlamyweb” experimentation led in 2012 by the National Institute for Health Prevention and Education (INPES).
This system had made it possible to multiply “by 3.4 the use of chlamydiae screening in young people compared to an orientation towards the care system” (general practitioners, gynecologists, free information, screening and diagnostic centers, etc.).
