Emmanuel Macron has introduced that condoms will now be free for 18-25 year-olds in France ranging from subsequent 12 months.
The information got here yesterday (December 8) when the French president was talking at an occasion for younger individuals’s well being. The measure is designed to drive down the unfold of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and cut back undesirable pregnancies.
According to the BBC, France skilled a 30 per cent nationwide rise in STI charges in 2020 and 2021. According to a examine by pupil medical insurance firm HEYME, 1 / 4 of 18-25 12 months olds mentioned that they “don’t always” or “never” use condoms with a brand new sexual associate.
Macron additionally admitted that intercourse schooling in France was an space wherein the nation was missing. “We are not very good on this subject. The reality is very, very different from the theory,” he mentioned.
French residents within the 18-25 age bracket can gather the free condoms from pharmacies in a transfer that Macron hailed as a “small revolution for contraception”. He later introduced in a tweet that emergency contraception will quickly be free for all girls in pharmacies, whereas these beneath 26 will be capable to get examined for STIs (besides HIV) without cost with out a prescription.
La gratuité des préservatifs pour les jeunes s’appuie sur d’autres mesures : gratuité de la contraception d’urgence pour toutes les femmes en pharmacie, dépistage gratuit sans ordonnance élargi à d’autres infections sexuellement transmissibles que le VIH pour les moins de 26 ans.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 8, 2022
Earlier this 12 months, France prolonged its provision of free contraception for ladies with the intention to stop girls from stopping utilizing it as a result of they’ll’t afford it. Previously, contraception was free for beneath 18s, however it can now be free for all girls beneath 26.
In 2018, the French authorities began reimbursing the prices of condoms to people, if bought in a pharmacy with a prescription from a health care provider or midwife. However, many younger individuals have been unaware that they might do that, in keeping with The New York Times.