“It’s almost every time we are the ones who have to ask”: condoms shunned among students

The issue of sexual health among young people, particularly the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, remains a major concern. On Tuesday April 7, health professionals went to meet future engineers trained at the EPF in Troyes (Aube) for a booster shot.

It was a little before noon on April 7 when Baptiste (the students’ first names have been changed) left the classroom and headed towards a doctor who had come especially for him and his classmates. After a closed-door discussion during which his state of health in general and his relationship to sexuality in particular were discussed, he was given a urine screening kit. In a few days, he will know whether or not he has an STI or STD (sexually transmitted infection or disease).

For four hours, on the occasion of a prevention and awareness day organized within the walls of the General Engineering School (EPF) of Troyes (Aube), around thirty similar meetings took place one after the other. For Pauline, this operation at the heart of her engineering school is an interesting initiative, if only to make the procedures easier.”I know a lot of people around us have never been tested.”testifies the young student. According to her, being able to do it at their place of study takes the drama out of the medical consultation.

If the Professional Territorial Health Community (CPTS) of Troyes Champagne Métropole is going to meet the students, it is because there is an urgent need to open their eyes to their perception of risks. “There are much fewer uses of condoms“, warns Florence Hoefler, infectious disease specialist at the Troyes hospital center. She believes that there is “a trivialization of STIs and particularly HIV” due, in particular, to treatments that allow us to live longer.

As a result, these very young adults are less keen on wearing condoms, despite awareness campaigns that are repeated here and there. Health professionals are wondering about the reasons for this “blocking“, evoking a possible feeling of invincibility among some of them. Pauline shares her personal experience and attests that protection is not spontaneous on the part of her male partners. “Almost every time we have to ask to wear a condom“, she assures.

Before being seen as a means of protecting oneself from a sexually transmitted infection, the condom is first seen as a means of contraception by the students met. Baptiste, who has been in a relationship for several months, feels less concerned by the need to go out covered but he recognizes that “not everyone thinks about protecting themselves during a one-night stand, some say “I’m withdrawing”, but they think first of the risk of pregnancy and not necessarily of STIs“.

As a reminder, those under 26 can obtain free male and female condoms in pharmacies. They also have access to STD and STI screening without a prescription in the medical biology laboratory, again with 100% coverage by Health Insurance.