The total number of people who learned they were HIV-positive in 2018 is estimated at 6,200. Decreases have been observed in several subgroups, in line with the prevention measures implemented. However, no decrease has been observed among women born abroad or among men who have sex with men (MSM) born abroad—populations that require special attention.

An overall decline in the number of new HIV diagnoses

After several years of stability, the number of people who learned of their HIV-positive status in 2018 decreased compared to 2017. Transmission through heterosexual intercourse accounts for more than half of the cases (56%), and transmission through sexual intercourse between men accounts for 40% of them.
The regions most affected are, as in previous years, the French departments in the Americas and, in metropolitan France, the Île-de-France region.

A different trend depending on place of birth

The decline in HIV diagnoses among people born in France—both heterosexuals and MSM—observed over the past few years continued in 2018. However, this decline is not seen among MSM aged 50 and older, among whom the number of HIV diagnoses is increasing.
For people born abroad, between 2013 and 2018, the number of new HIV diagnoses decreased among heterosexual men, remained stable among heterosexual women, and increased among MSM.

The observed decreases may reflect:

• a decrease in the number of people living with HIV but unaware of their HIV status, against a backdrop of increased testing. Nevertheless, testing must still be intensified among the most at-risk populations, since more than a quarter of new HIV diagnoses in 2018 (29%) were made at an advanced stage of infection;

• and also a decline in HIV incidence over the past several years, which could be explained primarily by the TASP (“treatment as prevention”) effect and, more recently for MSM, by the impact of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis).

These results are being presented at the sixth replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.