Fighting against discriminations linked to sexual orientation or health status 1 Ministère chargé de la santé Direction Générale de la Santé, Paris, France Dr Bernard FALIU, Chef du bureau RI2 «VIH, IST, hépatites »

How to assess current situation on discriminations ?  Examples of surveillance tools on discriminations in France : 1.Surveys performed by « Sida Info Services » (information hotline on HIV created 25 years ago) funded by the Prevention Institute (INPES) : 5 surveys performed on discriminations faced by people living with HIV. 2.Surveys performed by ANRS (french Aids research agency) « VESPA » in 2003 and 2011 : objective : to describe living conditions of PLWHIV. 2

Protecting laws General law against discriminations : LAW N° of May 27th, 2008 carrying diverse measures of adaptation to the community law in the field of the fight against discrimination. Modified by LAW n° of February 21st, art. 15 “Constitute a direct discrimination the situation in which, on the foundation of its membership or of his(her,its) non-membership, true or supposed, in an ethnic group or a race, its religion, its convictions, its age, its handicap, its orientation or sexual identity, its sex or its place of residence, a person is treated in a less favorable way than an other one is him(her,it), was him(her,it) or will have been him(her,it) in a comparable situation.” Public health code (Art. L ) « No one can be the object of discriminations in the access to prevention or care” The social security system guarantees the coverage of the care of the individuals + devices allowing to improve the care of the most deprived people ( AME, CMU, CMUc, PASS…)

French masterplan on HIV and STI Was endorsed on November 4, 2010 by the Ministry for Health This Plan contains measures related to Social Care and fight against discrimination Action MSM – LBT : Act for a better acceptance of sexual orientations and support suffering MSM, WSW or victims of homophobic acts. Axe 4 - Mesure 4 : Reduce the disparities in accessing to healthcare and insure to all the quality of a comprehensive care 4

Examples of tools developed in the frame of the HIV-STI plan  Finalize a documentary file (chart) to help health care trainers to organize courses on the respect of sexual identities (nursing schools, etc…)  Develop HIV rapid testing by peers in the whole country in order to improve outreach and testing activitiesamong the populations the most at risk or the more distant from prevention and care system as they are the ones who experience discriminations linked to differences, origin, social status… in order to reduce health inequalities Around 60 NGOs have been approved and funded (2 millions Euros) to realize HIV rapid tests with a maximum objective of rapid tests a year. 5

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Examples of tools against discrimination linked to sexual orientation developed by the national prevention institute (INPES) and its partners Leaflet/brochure «Our child is a homosexual » realized by the NGO « Contact » Gathering parents of homosexuals,aiming to help parents and relatives, to understand the homosexuality of their child. (INPES- Contact) Leaflet/brochure « Homo, bi…so what ! », for teenagers who question themselves about their attraction for persons of the same sex (INPES- Contact) Leaflet/brochure « Sex et gay heath for PLWHIV » proposes answers to questions on quality of life linked to sexuality for HIV+ MSM. Leaflet/brochure « Homosexuals, patients like others ? » realized in partnership with the NGO AIDES and the association of gay doctors 7

The governmental Action plan against the violence and the discriminations linked to sexual orientation or gender identity Was endorsed on October 31,2012 by the Ministry for Women rights Mme Vallaud –Belkacem. This action plan develops 4 axes to fight against discriminations linked to sexual orientation or gender identity : 1-Fight against violences, 2-Rely on young people to help behaviors evolving in the right way, 3-Act against discriminations on a daily basis, 4- Boost the international fight for the rights of the people LGBT 8