They are mainly men (83.6%), residing in the north and centre, with an average age of 35 years. It is the photograph of the user who called the AIDS and STI helpline of the Higher Institute of Health in 2021, for a total of 6,219 calls. The questions addressed to the experts mainly concern doubts about heterosexual relationships with occasional partners, the methods of transmission of HIV and STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections) (32.4%), the testing procedures for these infections (28.0%). A third of the questions asked by women concern tests (how long after to carry them out, how and where to carry them out), the questions asked by men focus, in more than a third of cases, on the ways of HIV transmission. In approximately 10% of phone calls, evident misinformation still emerges regarding the risk modalities of HIV.
In a proportion equal to 36.2% of all phone calls received in 2021, it emerges that users belonging to the AIDS and STI helpline have never taken an HIV test. 'These 2021 data are in line with those that can be deduced from the over 820 thousand calls received to the AIDS and IST toll-free telephone starting from June 1987 - the ISS says in a statement - and suggest that this service is still necessary today to respond to the information needs of those who are there
access, as it provides, in a personalized way, answers supported by solid scientific bases'. Furthermore, the availability of a database of 650 diagnostic-clinical centers and 28 checkpoints present throughout the national territory allows the experts of the AIDS and STI toll-free telephone to provide the person who calls with useful information regarding where to carry out the HIV testing and how.
The HIV/AIDS/STI counseling service telephone, anonymous and free, active since 1987, it is located within the Psycho-socio-behavioural Research, Communication and Training Operational Unit of the Infectious Diseases Department of the ISS. 'The experience acquired over many years of activity and the operational procedures developed to provide scientific answers to the complex questions posed by people-users - continues the ISS press release - have meant that in the face of the emergency caused by SARS- CoV-2, the AIDS and STI helpline team would welcome the information needs of users also regarding the COVID-19 health emergency, providing information on national and regional services, sending to the public utility number 1500 of the Ministry of Health , to the toll-free numbers activated in the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, to the official websites of the Health departments and institutions (Civil Protection, Italian Red Cross, etc.), responsible for providing information to the population present in the different territories.
Furthermore, a real primary prevention intervention was provided through the AIDS and STI helpline
in systematically indicating to users the need to maintain all measures aimed at avoiding the risk of contagion
from SARS-CoV-2, particularly in social and sexual relationships with unknown partners'. In this context, it was
carried out, in the period March - September 2021, the telephone survey regarding the acceptability of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in users belonging to the AIDS and STI toll-free telephone, the purpose of which was to detect the characteristics
socio-demographics, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
people-users relating to TV AIDS and STIs. 528 users, mostly male, participated in the telephone survey.
young adults, employed professionals, with a high level of education and who in 44.3% cases had already undergone
satisfaction with the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.
With regard to the area of consultancy on legal matters, the Higher Institute of Health informs that two days a week, on Mondays and Thursdays from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm, a legal expert is available to users who access the telephone green AIDS and STI, with regards to aspects relating to discrimination or problems in the workplace and welfare fields. 'The progressive chronicization of HIV infection, a consequence of important medical advances - explains the Institute - has determined in the last twenty years a significant prolongation of the average survival of people with HIV, making the lives of those living with this infection much more common than in the past'.
However, a fact that emerges from the observation of today's reality should be underlined: 'The undoubted progress made in these
The last twenty years of medicine - continues the ISS - have not proceeded hand in hand with an evolution of perception
of the disease and with the long hoped for overcoming of the stigma related to it'. Therefore the current situation conveys the image of an increasingly numerous population of HIV+ people who are struggling to face the reality of a family, emotional and professional life in which the weight of prejudice and irrational fear towards
disease are often not only unchanged compared to twenty years ago, but in some cases even worsened by the consequences of
discontinuous and sometimes not very effective information and preventive interventions, as well as by the reduction in the level of services
social welfare and the standard of living in general.
The current SARS Cov-2 epidemic, adds the ISS, has made this reality 'more difficult and uncomfortable for people with HIV infection, now chronic, who have witnessed a significant worsening in the level of care healthcare especially during the periods of greatest spread of Covid-19, when the infectious disease departments were literally overwhelmed by the emergency, with the consequence of becoming, in some cases, completely inaccessible to anyone not affected by the new infection'.
In order to implement institutional communication and information activities on infectious diseases, since 2013, the Telephone
green AIDS and STIs is complemented by the interactive website 'United against AIDS' which, in addition to 'providing updated content relating to the methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS and STIs - explains the ISS - plays a continuous role in disseminating scientific innovations and events that promote the prevention of STIs , allowing, also thanks to the connected social channels (Twitter, YouTube), a fruitful activity of spreading the culture of testing, fighting stigma and raising awareness of one's own behaviour.
Furthermore, thanks to the potential of the AIDS and IST toll-free telephone and the 'United against AIDS' website it was possible to carry out
specific investigations on awareness and behaviors related to the prevention of infectious diseases. 'During
In recent years, behavioral studies have been conducted on specific subgroups of people such as young people,
clients of sex workers, women and, more recently, the survey on the acceptability of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, carried out
as part of the AIDS and IST Toll-free Helpline, it was also implemented through the 'United against AIDS' website and is still
active'.
Furthermore, on the 'United against AIDS' website, a survey is being carried out aimed at evaluating, in people infected with HIV, the impact of the new therapeutic modalities available on the individual quality of life, on the opportunities for at work and on relationships and social stigma. It is possible to participate in the survey by answering the questions in the anonymous questionnaire published on the Uniti contro l'AIDS website.
Photo by Klaus Nielsen from Pexels.
