In French Guiana, health inequalities are patent for a broad range of pathologies for all age groups. The objective of the present study was to quantify the proportion of the population that had renounced care in the past year, to study predictive factors, and to compare results with other French territories. A two-stage random sample of 2015 individuals aged 15 to 75 years was surveyed by telephone. A descriptive analysis of variables relative to renouncing care, use of health care, screening, and vaccination was initially performed. Multivariate analysis was then used to determine variables associated with renouncing care for financial reasons and renouncing for reasons linked to time were directly estimated using a Poisson model on weighted data. Variables with a significance level < 0.2 in the bivariate analysis were included in the full multivariate model. In French Guiana, during the past 12 months, 30.9% of surveyed persons renounced care whatever the type for financial reasons. Results of the multivariate analysis showed that gender, perceived financial situation, perceived health and complementary insurance status were independent predictive factors of care renouncement for financial reasons. Overall, 24% of the surveyed population declared having renounced to care for time-related motives. The independent predictors for time-related renouncing were different than those for renouncing care for financial reasons: a higher education level and a poor perceived health were independently associated with time-related renouncement; retired persons and students were found to renounce care less frequently than persons with a job. Renouncing for financial reasons, a major target of the 2016 health law, represented a public health problem in French Guiana. Renouncing for lack of time was an important motive for renouncing, which is aggravated by the insufficient number of health professionals, but may benefit from organizational solutions. There are avenues for improvement of health for the most vulnerable: promote health, act on risk factors, and facilitate the readability and accessibility of the health system. Recent reforms to stabilize health insurance may however have some adverse consequences for migrants.

Access to health care is a global public problem. In French Guiana, there exists social inequalities which are specially marked amongst immigrants who make up a third of the population. Health care inequalities are prevalent. The objective of this study was to determine factors associated with why health care amongst the poor population of Cayenne was renounced. The study was cross sectional. It focused on knowledge, attitudes, practices and beliefs of the population living in poor neighborhoods of the Cayenne area. Populations coming at the Red Cross mobile screening unit in poor urban areas of Cayenne were surveyed from July 2013 to June 2014. Structured questionnaires consisted of 93 questions. Written informed consent was requested at the beginning of the questionnaire. The predictors for renouncing medical care were determined using logistic regression models and tree analysis. Twenty percent of persons had renounced care. Logistic regression showed that renouncement of health care was negatively associated with having no regular physician Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 0.43 (95 % CI = 0.24–0.79) and positively associated with being embarrassed to ask certain questions AOR = 6.81 (95 % CI = 3.98–11.65) and having been previously refused health care by a doctor AOR = 3.08 (95 % CI = 1.43–6.65). Tree analysis also showed that three of these variables were linked to renouncement, with feeling shy to ask certain questions as the first branching. Although most people felt it was easy to see a doctor, one in five had renounced health care. The variables identified by the models suggest vulnerable persons generally had previous negative encounters with the health system and felt unwanted or non eligible for healthcare. Health care mediation and welcoming staff may be simple solutions to the above problems which were underscored in our observations.

French Guiana is highly affected by HIV. The migrant population is particularly susceptible. The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of risk of HIV transmission and its perception among migrants in French Guiana and to identify predictive factors. An HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviors and Practices study was conducted in 2012 among migrants living in precarious neighborhoods of French Guiana. Of the 1039 participants surveyed, 893 were analyzed, of which 35.6% had risky sex during the past 12 months. Sexual risk taking was higher among the migrant population than in the general population. The predictors of sexual risk taking behavior were: younger age groups, males, having a job, not living with a spouse, having first had sex before age 16, using alcohol or drugs before sex, and having engaged in commercial sex recently. The factors associated with not being aware of one’s risk were: being a woman, being from Guyana or Suriname, non-systematic use of condoms with a regular partner, and never or not recently having been tested for HIV. The results suggest there is still a need for information on HIV risks in a highly vulnerable population.

French Guiana is the French territory that is most affected by HIV. AIDS incidence is much higher than in mainland France and sex work seems to be an important driver of the epidemic. The objective of this study was to describe consistent condom use among female sex workers with their clients and their intimate partners and to identify determinants of non-use of condoms. An HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviours and Practices survey was conducted in 2009–2010 among sex workers in French Guiana. A total of 477 sex workers were interviewed. Female sex workers were more likely to use condoms with their clients (97%) than with their intimate partners (45%). The factors associated with non-consistent condom use with the intimate partner were having had an abortion, feeling at risk for HIV, not evaluating one’s own risk for HIV, living as a couple, being Dominican, and not feeling comfortable asking intimate partners to use condoms. Although a high proportion of female sex workers declared using condoms with commercial partners, there is still room for improvement in the prevention of transmission with both commercial and intimate partners.

Background: The border area between French Guiana and Brazil is an active HIV-transmission zone. The aim of the present study was to describe HIV knowledge, risk and the level of stigma among inhabitants of this border area. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 621 inhabitants over 18 years of age in the border cities of Saint-Georges-de-l’Oyapock in French Guiana and Oiapoque in Brazil. It was conducted between October 2017 and February 2018. An anonymous standardized questionnaire was filled out by culturally-trained mediators, then analyzed using STATA 12. Results: Almost half (45.9%) of the individuals had a low education level. Participants whose native language was Portuguese or French demonstrated better HIV knowledge than other populations, notably native Amerindian and creole-speaking people. HIV risk behavior was more frequent in men and in younger age groups. People with good HIV knowledge reported having performed more HIV tests in the last year than participants with poor knowledge. The stigma level was high and reported in 74.8% of respondents. Conclusions: These results illustrate the need for initiatives to improve HIV prevention among autochthonous populations on both sides of this border area. Cross-border collaboration on health policies could produce common key messages adapted to the education level and multi-linguistic populations who live in this area.

(1) Objectives: French Guiana is the French territory most affected by sickle cell disease (SCD). This study investigates the associations between different environmental factors relative to climate, infectious outbreaks, and emergency visits or weekly hospital admissions for vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC). The identification of risk factors would lead to better patient care and patient management, and more targeted prevention and therapeutic education for patients with SCD in French Guiana. (2) Methods: This study was performed using data collected from the medicalized information system and emergency medical records of Cayenne General Hospital, between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2016. ARIMA models were used to investigate the potential impact of weather conditions and flu epidemics on VOC occurrence. (3) Results: During the study period, 1739 emergency visits were recorded among 384 patients, of which 856 (49.2%) resulted in hospitalization, 811 (46.6%) resulted in hospital discharge, and 72 (4.2%) in another orientation. Decreased temperature and decreased humidity were both independent factors associated with an increase of VOC cases (p = 0.0128 and p = 0.0004, respectively). When studying severe VOC (leading to hospitalization, with or without prior emergency visit), 2104 hospital admissions were recorded for 326 patients. The only factor associated with severe VOC, in the multivariate analysis, was flu epidemics (p = 0.0148). (4) Conclusions: This study shows a link between climate, flu epidemics, and VOC in French Guiana. Patient’s awareness of risks related to climate and flu epidemics should be encouraged, as home prevention measures can help avoid painful crises. Moreover, physicians should encourage patients to get immunized for influenza every year.