World Sexual Health Day: How Greece Is Changing the Fight Against HIV and STIs - GreekReporter.com From free HIV prevention and anonymous testing to HPV vaccination, Greece has more tools than ever to protect sexual health. The bigger challenge may be getting people to use them — and talk about the…
World Sexual Health Day: How Greece Is Changing the Fight Against HIV and STIs - GreekReporter.com
From free HIV prevention and anonymous testing to HPV vaccination, Greece has more tools than ever to protect sexual health. The bigger challenge may be getting people to use them — and talk about them without stigma. World Sexual Health Day on September 4 puts a subject that is often discussed quietly into the spotlight.
A New Era of HIV Prevention One of the biggest changes came in 2025, when Greece formally introduced HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP. PrEP is medication taken by HIV-negative people to prevent HIV infection. In Greece, it is now prescribed following medical evaluation and is available free of charge through 24 hospital pharmacies of the National Health System. Before receiving PrEP, patients undergo HIV and STI testing and an assessment of kidney function. EODY also stresses that PrEP does not replace condoms or regular testing.
The change gives people another medically proven way to protect themselves and represents an important expansion of Greece's public-health approach to HIV prevention. But prevention is only part of the challenge.
Early Diagnosis Still Matters Final EODY data recorded 604 new HIV diagnoses in Greece in 2025, while 21 additional people were diagnosed with AIDS at the time of their HIV diagnosis. The same report highlights the continuing importance of early diagnosis. Among cases for which CD4 information was available, late diagnosis was particularly common among heterosexual cases and people over 50.
The figures need to be interpreted carefully because CD4 information was not available for every diagnosis. They therefore cannot be presented as a picture of every person diagnosed with HIV in Greece.
The STI Picture Is More Complicated EODY recorded 735 confirmed cases of early syphilis and 420 confirmed cases of gonorrhea in 2024. For chlamydia, 31,055 laboratory samples were tested, with 282 infections confirmed by PCR or direct fluorescent antibody testing. But there is an important caveat: EODY warns of significant underreporting, particularly from the private sector.
Chlamydial infections can also be asymptomatic, making them harder to detect. That means Greece's official numbers should not be interpreted as a complete count of all sexually transmitted infections in the country. They reflect what the surveillance system has been able to capture.
This is why simply saying that STIs are "rising" or "falling" in Greece would be misleading. The reality is more complicated, involving testing, diagnosis and reporting as well as actual infections.
HPV Shows the Importance of Prevention Sexual health also extends beyond HIV and other STIs. HPV vaccination is another important part of prevention.
World Sexual Health Day: How Greece Is Changing the Fight Against HIV and STIs - GreekReporter.com
A 2026 study of 1,418 undergraduate students at the University of Ioannina found that 66 percent reported having received the HPV vaccine. The researchers concluded that vaccination uptake in their study was still not optimal and that targeted interventions were needed.
EODY now provides free and anonymous rapid testing for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea through its Sexual Health Counseling and Testing Offices. These services also provide information about prevention, vaccination and PrEP.
The challenge now is making sure people know these services exist — and feel comfortable using them. Because better sexual health does not begin only when someone becomes sick. It begins with prevention, accurate information, early testing and the confidence to seek help when it is needed.
