Barcelona will have a new center to fight HIV and sexually transmitted infections.

BarcelonaSexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a public health problem throughout Europe. In our country, they are increasingly common: since 2010, they have increased by an average of 32.4% each year, and in 2023 alone, 37,571 cases were diagnosed. There is now a long waiting list to obtain the HIV preventive pill, a treatment called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). At the BCN Checkpoint, the reference center for the fight against HIV and STIs in the Catalan capital, 4,000 people are waiting to begin treatment, but the wait time is already two years. Professionals complain that they do not have sufficient resources to treat everyone and regret that the process is taking so long that they are already detecting the first infected among users waiting. According to ARA, the center has already begun work to move to a larger building starting in February of next year to reverse these waiting lists.

"Barcelona needs and deserves a center like this for this group, with which we want to expand our capacity, offer more services, and reach a greater number of people," says Ferran Pujol, director of BCN Checkpoint. The new building will be located at 138 Sepúlveda Street and will be supported by the health authorities and the Fight Against Infections Foundation. Currently, there are around 4,000 people receiving PrEP at this center, which treats around 8,000 STI emergencies each year and can practically no longer treat anyone else because the space has become too small due to so much demand. "Every year we have 3,000 people who visit us for the first time, young people who want to take care of their sexual health. We already make efforts to reach everyone, but we need more resources," explains Pujol.

With the new building, not only will they have more space, but Pujol explains that they want to "go further" and incorporate new services that they will progressively roll out once they start working. Specifically, they will have a proctology area to address all pathologies that affect anal health, they will incorporate new diagnostic tools to detect diseases earlier, and they will strengthen care for trans people with specific services for this group, such as hormone monitoring. They also urge the Department of Health to hire more people to address the increase in demand and ensure no one is left out: every year, around 9,000 people are tested for HIV at the center, in addition to those already receiving PrEP.

It is multiplied by four

The Ministry of Health estimates that 33,479 people are living with HIV in Catalonia and highlights that, between 2020 and 2024, the number of people on preventative treatment has quadrupled, rising from 2,500 to 10,653. According to the department, the number of people waiting to receive the preventative pill in Catalonia "could range between 3,000 and 5,000," but at the BCN Checkpoint alone there are already 4,000, leading the center to question the Catalan government's data. "They can't know how many people are waiting because we are the only ones with a list; the other centers don't have anyone registered," says Pujol.

As for STIs, the trend of recent years continues. The most prevalent are chlamydia and gonorrhea, with 15,512 and 13,154 cases respectively. The Health Department warns that there has been an 18.8% increase in gonorrhea infections compared to the previous year and also warns of the rise of lymphogranuloma venere, a bacterial STI that has increased by 66.8% in one year.

Most infections occur among men, and the predominant transmission continues to be among those who have sex with other men. Therefore, Pujol emphasizes the importance of expanding current capacity and strengthening care for this community.