INfluencia: What answers from this study surprised you the most?
Camille Spire : The feelings that moved through me upon discovering these figures were rather anger and the desire to continue the fight that we have been waging for 40 years. 77% of French people still think that it is possible to be infected with HIV by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person under treatment. 14% are uncomfortable with the idea of being around an HIV-positive person. Even more worrying, HIV-positive people and people in the AIDS stage are still considered a minority to be excluded from society by part of the population. The isolation of AIDS patients is supported by 11% of French people. This is very alarming.
How can we explain such a delay in the mentalities of the French, more than 40 years after the discovery of HIV, when therapeutic developments now allow HIV-positive people under treatment to no longer transmit the virus? How can we explain the negative view that some of the respondents have on HIV-positive people, when nothing justifies it and this has dramatic consequences for the first people concerned?
IN. : Why do fewer and fewer respondents seem to be worried about the risk of contamination?
C. S. : These data are quite paradoxical in relation to persistent serophobia. They are probably justified because life with the virus today has fortunately nothing to do with that of HIV-positive people in the 80s and 90s, thanks to treatments. Today, an HIV-positive person can live, grow old, love, work, or even start a family! But this reality must not go hand in hand with a decline in prevention, that is obvious.
Furthermore, it seems essential to me to recall, in the logic of a public health strategy, that there are specific populations particularly exposed to the risk of transmission of the virus. These people are discriminated against, whether we are talking about racism, homophobia, transphobia, putophobia or even toxicophobia, and are therefore particularly far from care and prevention, which creates the basis for the epidemic.
It is with and near these people that we act: men who have sex with men, trans people, migrants, prisoners, drug users, and sex workers.
IN. : How do you explain the growing lack of knowledge regarding the differences between AIDS patients and HIV-positive people? Is this a lack or bad information?
C. S. : The fight against HIV/AIDS is an invisible subject in public debate. However, 200,000 people live with HIV in France and the epidemic is still circulating since each year, 5,000 people discover their HIV status.
We talk about the difference between HIV and AIDS in our study, but how many French people know about the existence of preventive treatment against HIV: Prep? Post-exposure treatment? Public authorities must take their responsibilities: we have all the tools to put an end to the epidemic; we need means and strong political will to make them known and accessible. We have also challenged the candidates for the 2022 presidential elections on this subject, with a campaign “Today, to confront AIDS, there is no candidate”. The media also have a role to play, they have always supported the struggle, this must not stop.
IN. : Why do so many people think that people with HIV are discriminated against? Is this true? Haven’t mentalities evolved in the right direction in recent years?
C. S. : Discrimination and rejection directed against HIV-positive people still exist in Franceas shown by the results of our study. HIV-positive people with and with whom we work on a daily basis regularly report attacks, situations of exclusion or humiliation. Our campaign “HIV does not protect, prejudice does”, launched in December 2021, was entirely dedicated to denouncing this situation.
As for the evolution of mentalities, the figures unfortunately do not point in this direction. In 2017, a survey that we conducted with the CSA revealed that 21% of French people would be uncomfortable with the idea of their child’s teacher being HIV-positive and 16% with the idea of having an HIV-positive colleague. In 2024, these numbers are exactly the same.
This unacceptable discrimination takes people away from care and prevention. They discourage, for fear of a positive result, from having recourse to screening. They complicate discussions around sexual health with health professionals and associations. Serophobia fuels the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
IN. : The responses concerning health professionals are particularly worrying (37% of French people believe that HIV-positive people are victims of discrimination by health professionals). How do you analyze this?
C. S. : I was not surprised by this figure which reflects a very real situation. The serophobia of health professionals has also taken an important place in the discussions during the States General of people living with HIV co-organized by AIDES in May 2024 and bringing together nearly 200 HIV-positive people. Some participants described caregivers taking care of them in “cosmonaut outfits”. Some have received advice from their treating doctor not to reveal their HIV status to occupational medicine so as not to risk being discriminated against. And of course, many situations of refusal of care are reported to us. Health professionals are supposed to be the first to be informed. This double standard is unjustifiable and unbearable.
IN. : How has the attitude of public authorities evolved in recent years on issues related to AIDS?
C. S. : The developments have not been up to the reality of the epidemic. Repressive policies in terms of reception on the territory, drugs, sex work or detention of people must evolve. In addition to being costly and ineffective, they hinder access to care and screening and increase the risk of HIV transmission.
How, moreover, can we not be worried about the recurring endangerment ofState Medical Aid (AME) ? Beyond the risks for the individual health of people who would find themselves more vulnerable to HIV, such a measure would go against all the principles of public health.
IN. : How have your campaigns evolved over the last 40 years? Could you give me a history and explain the different phases of your awareness campaigns?
C. S. : Our communications have evolved and adapted to the dynamics of the epidemic. During the Ash Years, our first campaigns were mainly informative and focused on raising awareness of prevention, giving pride of place to the promotion of condoms. The urgency of the situation forced us to adopt a serious and fatalistic tone. Gradually, the campaigns became more and more daring, even “itchy”, particularly in the 2000s, with striking slogans to break taboos and highlight the diversification of prevention tools and access to screening. .
We also adapt to our target. Today we adopt a more optimistic but still militant tone, to remind us that our goal of defeating the HIV epidemic is achievable. When our campaigns address politicians, we use our anger and our indignation, the cement of our struggles for 40 years, to remind them of their responsibility.
IN. : Which brands and agencies support you and how do they accompany and support your actions?
C. S. : We are fortunate to be able to count on several brands and agencies who have been working alongside us for many years. Agencies TBWA, BETC, Innocean and more recently Strike have, for example, developed probono campaigns to AIDES. Some of them have also won awards. This type of collaboration is valuable for our association, so we can reduce our costs by saving on fees, for the benefit of financing field actions.
This is the case of our latest 40th anniversary campaign “Growing old can be scary. However, we couldn’t wish for anything more beautiful”produced by Strike of which we are very proud. A campaign that elegantly marked our 40th anniversary by highlighting HIV-positive people for whom we will never stop fighting.
Beyond the campaigns, certain brands support us to increase the association’s notoriety. Fnac offers us graceful spaces within its ecosystem, the Maison Martin Margiela has produced limited editions on several occasions. As part of this special year which marks the association’s 40 years of struggle, we have developed new collaborations with The Frankie Shop et Agnès B. With these same brands and many other brands, we also organize each year the Grande Braderie de la mode, a solidarity sale of new products from major brands at reduced prices, all profits finance our actions in the most affected regions in mainland France. : Île-de-France et Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
