Trans&VIH: National Survey About Trajectory and Life Conditions of HIV Trans People in France

In France, transgender still a taboo subject, and is poorly documented. There are no precise data on the number of transgender people in France or on their socio-demographic characteristics. The absence of such data reinforces their invisibility in social life and contributes to their stigmatization. Transgender people faces many social barriers in our society. These barriers accumulate in HIV seropositive transgender people (TRHIV), and most likely increase the burden of HIV infection. The main objective of ANRS TRANS&VIH - the community-based research study presented here - is to identify personal and social situations of vulnerability for TRHIV in France, the obstacles for receiving medical care, and their healthcare needs.

ANRS TRANS&VIH is an ongoing national, exhaustive, cross-sectional survey of all TRHIV currently followed up in HIV services in France. It is a mixed-methods study, the quantitative and qualitative components includ TRHIV women and men, respectively. Socio-behavioral and medical data are collected (start date January 2021) by community-based interviewers in participating hospital-based HIV structures in order to explore patient care pathways and living conditions of the TRHIV population with regard to transitioning and HIV. This is the first study in France to collect such data. The statistical techniques used for the data analyses will reflect the study's objectives and will be adapted to the type of data collection used: cross-sectional (questionnaires) and longitudinal (life history). Several types of analyses will be performed, including: (i) a description of the individual characteristics of transgender female TRHIV; (ii) comparative analyses between different groups of stakeholders (e.g., differences between the Ile de France region (which covers Paris and the surrounding area) and other regions); (iii) analysis of life and HIV trajectories; (iv) structural analyses using structural data collected for participating HIV structures (v) qualitative analysis of data from interviews with participating TRHIV men.

ANRS TRANS&VIH results will be used to make recommendations to health authorities to ensure that a comprehensive healthcare package will be offered to TRHIV which takes into account this population's specific background and problems.