-
Digital carte Vitale: we try it out as a French residency card holder
Smartphone app can be set up in several ways, including by – some – residency card holders
-
What is in the law proposed to ease France's GP shortages
Medical 'deserts' affect many rural areas in particular
-
I am sick of having to justify my country’s politics to people in France
Columnist Cynthia Spillman offers advice on how to deal with troubling politics in your home country
Give blood in France (if you can)
The French blood service has called for an “extra effort” from donors and would-be donors this summer – but the ban on anyone who lived in the UK in the 10 years before 1996 remains.

The ban was imposed at the height of the mad cow disease scare and has not been revoked, even though predictions that thousands would die of the human form, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), turned out to be wrong.
According to British government figures, 156 deaths were linked to CJD in the 1990s. There have been hardly any cases since.
- Gay rights groups have filed a complaint with the European Commission over a French ban on blood donations by gay men unless they have abstained from sex for a year. They estimate that this means 93% of gay men are excluded. Until July 2016, gay and bisexual men could not donate at all under a 1983 ban.
Stay informed:
Sign up to our free weekly e-newsletter
Subscribe to access all our online articles and receive our printed monthly newspaper The Connexion at your home. News analysis, features and practical help for English-speakers in France