In a bid to curb sexually transmitted infections, young people in France will have free access to condoms from January.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the new health measure on Thursday at an event for young people's health and said they will be available for free in pharmacies for 18 to 25-year-olds.
“It’s a small revolution for contraception,” Mr Macron said at the event in Fontaine-le-Comte, a suburb of Poitiers in western France.
It was also under Mr Macron's government that women under the age of 25 were able to start receiving free birth control.
The scheme was later expanded to target under-18s to ensure young women do not stop taking contraception because they cannot afford it.
The President continued: "On sexual education overall, we are not very good on this subject. The reality is very, very different from the theory. It’s an area where we need to much better educate our teachers.”
In 2020 and 2021 the country experienced a 30 per cent national increase in STI rates.
In 2021, the number of new HIV diagnoses has also stagnated at around 5,000 but Macron had previously set a goal of "zero new HIV infections" in France by 2030 and the elimination of STIs "as major public health problems".
Meanwhile, in the United States, cases of some sexually transmitted diseases have been rising this year, prompting US health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts.
Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. HIV cases are also on the rise, up 16% last year.
And the number of sexually transmitted infections among those over-65s in the UK has shot up.
Health professionals believe this to be a result of the proliferation of dating apps that are driving record demand for sexual health advice.
The number of STIs in over 65s shot up from 2,280 in 2017 to 2,748 in 2019, marking a 20 per cent rise.
“Sexual mixing has changed considerably over the last 10 years, with a growth in the use of apps and online dating,” David Fothergill said in a report on the matter.
He continued: “This, coupled with a small but growing number of people over 65 requiring support from sexual health services, has led to these services facing new and emerging pressures that they have had to tackle.”
