A study was conducted among a group of individuals who had recently been diagnosed with AIDS, in order to retrospectively analyze the barriers to medical care prior to the AIDS diagnosis. The study included all adult subjects diagnosed with AIDS between July 1993 and May 1995 in hospitals in Gironde or Hauts-de-Seine. After obtaining informed consent, a confidential interview was conducted with a researcher outside the healthcare team... The primary barrier to medical care prior to an AIDS diagnosis is a lack of awareness of one’s HIV status: nearly one in five individuals learned of their HIV-positive status at the time of their AIDS diagnosis... A second type of barrier to care is inadequate medical follow-up. (adapted from the text).