The new municipal service for the prevention and early detection of sexually transmitted diseases opens to coincide with World AIDS Day
The social organizations that in the Region of Murcia work to curb HIV had spent years claiming a strategy that was finally launched this Thursday in the municipality of Murcia. The municipal center for the prevention and early detection of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
known as ‘check point’, opened its doors early in the morning in the Salitre garden, and by mid-morning it had already served its first six users. The date is not chosen at random: December 1, World AIDS Day, remains a symbol.
From now on, any resident of the city or districts will be able to visit these facilities to take a rapid HIV test and find out about the available preventive resources. Starting in January, the service will be extended to the detection of syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea and hepatitis C and B. If there are positive results, the patient will be referred to the Infectious Unit of their referral hospital or will even receive treatment there , if it is an STI that does not require hospital care.
Murcia becomes the fifth city in Spain with a ‘checkpoint’ of this type. The project comes at the height of the rise in sexually transmitted diseases. The latest report from the Epidemiology service reflects a general increase in the incidence. Thus, in 2021, 278 cases of gonococcal infection were detected in the Region of Murcia, compared to 186 the previous year. In syphilis, it has gone from 77 cases in 2020 to 107 in 2021. However, behind these figures there is also an improvement in notification systems. As for HIV, there is still no data available, but everything points to an increase after the reduction in tests during the previous years due to the pandemic.
Whoever arrives at the ‘checkpoint’ will be interviewed so that, in a climate of “trust and freedom”, it can be addressed if there are risky sexual practices, and how to prevent them, explains Rosa Miñarro, head of the Promotion of Health of the Murcia City Council and in charge of coordinating this new center. Along with her, the staff is completed by Antonio Madrid, also a doctor, María del Mar Albero, a nurse, and David Zapata, a social educator.
In short, it is not a matter of limiting yourself to doing early detection tests. The project goes further. For example, the ‘checkpoint’ will allow the recruitment of people who are candidates to take PreP, the pre-exposure treatment that prevents the transmission of HIV, and which in the Region of Murcia is still not spreading at the same rate as in other communities. “In the interview we will be able to check if the person meets the PrEP criteria [múltiples relaciones con diferentes parejas] and if he wants to take it and, in that case, refer it to his hospital, ”Miñarro details. But on the table is even the possibility that PrEP is provided at the ‘checkpoint’ itself in the future.
The approach to ‘chemsex’ (sexual parties in which drugs are consumed and unprotected relationships are maintained) is another priority. The Region registers a rebound in hepatitis C due to these practices, and is also concerned about the increase in addictions and the deterioration of mental health as a result of ‘chemsex’ «The first thing will be to check if the person who comes wants to quit. In that case, we will offer you all available resources.
We are going to work in coordination with social organizations, and within the framework of municipal mental health and addiction strategies. We will be able to refer these people to specialized psychologists, to entities, and to group therapies”, explains Rosa Miñarro. If the person who goes to the ‘checkpoint’ does not really intend to abandon this practice, another strategy will be implemented: the limitation of damages, with guidance so that syringes are not shared or certain substances are not mixed.
In all this, the social educator David Zapata, who comes from having worked in the field of prevention in Belgium, will have a fundamental role. «My work is that of ‘counseling’, that of guiding and advising. There are people who come with many doubts, with many fears », he explains. The ‘checkpoint’ is already in dating applications, such as ‘Grindr’, ‘Wapo’ or ‘Tinder’, and it is having a “great reception”, highlights the Councilor for Health, Esther Nevado. Interested persons can contact this municipal service directly through these ‘app’, or by calling 648 813 014, to make an appointment.
The associations celebrate this step, long demanded. “It was something in high demand, because accessibility to tests is essential, especially in HIV. We already have the mechanics to end HIV: diagnose and treat. With these tools available, I think that much more progress would have been made in any other disease, but the stigma in relation to HIV is still there”, reflects the veteran activist Bartolomé de Haro, from Apoyo Activo. The new municipal service “is also a success because it relieves hospitals; now that the HIV units have opened up to be STI units they are overloaded”. From Vihsibles, its president, Antonio Serrano, also values the center as “a wonderful idea that we have been demanding for years, and that will allow us to offer global care.”
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