About the Hannover Aids­hilfe e.V. 
and Check­Point Hannover

The image of AIDS and the tasks of the Han­nö­ver­sche AIDS-Hilfe e.V. have chan­ged fun­da­men­tally since the foun­ding of the orga­ni­sa­tion. In the 1980s, in addi­tion to edu­ca­ting the frigh­tened popu­la­tion, the acti­vists’ com­mit­ment still con­sis­ted mainly of pro­vi­ding end-of-life care for peo­ple with AIDS.

Alt­hough a cure for HIV infec­tion is not yet pos­si­ble despite inten­sive rese­arch, HIV can now be opti­mally con­trol­led if detec­ted and trea­ted in time thanks to modern medi­cine. Almost all peo­ple with HIV now have a nor­mal life expec­tancy with a good qua­lity of life and a nor­mal ability to work. The pre­re­qui­site, howe­ver, is that the medi­ca­tion is taken relia­bly for life.

Full-blown AIDS, which almost all HIV-posi­tive peo­ple suf­fe­red and died from in the 1980s, is now only seen very rarely and usually when the HIV infec­tion was detec­ted far too late. Howe­ver, thanks to anti­re­tro­vi­ral HIV the­ra­pies, it is now pos­si­ble to res­tore a func­tio­ning immune defense in almost all cases.

The mas­sive side effects that HIV the­rapy still had around ten years ago have now also dis­ap­peared thanks to the fur­ther deve­lo­p­ment of medi­ca­tion and medi­cal treatment.

The rea­liza­tion that peo­ple with HIV can no lon­ger trans­mit the HIV infec­tion to others after suc­cessful tre­at­ment has also brought signi­fi­cant relief for peo­ple with HIV. The Fede­ral Com­mis­sion for AIDS Issues in Switz­er­land (EKAF) came to this initi­ally very con­tro­ver­sial con­clu­sion back in 2008. Since then, seve­ral stu­dies have shown that HIV medi­ca­tion sup­pres­ses the repli­ca­tion of the virus in the body to such an ext­ent that there are hardly any free viru­ses left in the secre­ti­ons, thus making it abso­lut­ely impos­si­ble for the virus to over­come an unin­fec­ted per­son’s own immune defen­ses. For peo­ple with HIV and their part­ners, this makes it pos­si­ble to live out bar­rier-free sexua­lity (i.e. wit­hout a con­dom), and it is also pos­si­ble to have child­ren natu­rally. It is assu­med that most HIV infec­tions today come from peo­ple who have just been infec­ted and, the­r­e­fore, have a very high viral load in their blood and secretions. 

What tar­nis­hes this image is now mainly the stigma atta­ched to peo­ple with an HIV infec­tion. The rea­liza­tion that it is abso­lut­ely impos­si­ble to trans­mit HIV in ever­y­day cont­act with HIV-posi­tive peo­ple has been pro­ven since the early 1980s and has been com­mu­ni­ca­ted ever since, and not just by AIDS ser­vice orga­niza­ti­ons. Nevert­hel­ess, out­da­ted images of HIV com­bi­ned with com­ple­tely irra­tio­nal fears of infec­tion per­sist in the minds of many peo­ple. Added to this is the assump­tion that peo­ple with HIV are guilty of acqui­ring an HIV infec­tion and have indul­ged in irre­spon­si­ble desire through sex or drug use. What is for­got­ten is that plea­sura­ble expe­ri­en­ces always have some­thing to do with relin­quis­hing con­trol. HIV-posi­tive peo­ple have inter­na­li­zed this attri­bu­tion of guilt.

Com­ba­ting HIV-rela­ted stig­ma­tiza­tion and dis­cri­mi­na­tion asso­cia­ted with HIV infec­tion and working with and for peo­ple who are expo­sed to this stig­ma­tiza­tion and dis­cri­mi­na­tion are cen­tral focu­ses of today’s AIDS ser­vice work. This acti­vity has always been one of the tasks of Han­nö­ver­sche AIDS-Hilfe e. V., but in 2016 we estab­lished an anti-dis­cri­mi­na­tion office expli­citly for this pur­pose. Peo­ple with HIV who feel unf­airly trea­ted or dis­ad­van­ta­ged due to their HIV infec­tion, or who have even been atta­cked through words or actions, can cont­act us. We will then work tog­e­ther to find and imple­ment pos­si­ble solu­ti­ons to the conflict. 

In order to coun­ter and pre­vent struc­tu­ral and insti­tu­tio­nal dis­cri­mi­na­tion, we have crea­ted spe­ci­fic trai­ning cour­ses for peo­ple who are in ever­y­day cont­act with peo­ple with HIV. In 2016, for exam­ple, trai­ning cour­ses for den­tists and den­tal assistants were desi­gned and car­ried out in col­la­bo­ra­tion with local HIV focus prac­ti­ces, as ade­quate den­tal tre­at­ment wit­hout unneces­sary spe­cial mea­su­res for peo­ple with HIV is not stan­dard in all prac­ti­ces. We also offer these trai­ning cour­ses for other pro­fes­sio­nal groups or col­le­agues of peo­ple with HIV.

Coun­seling and sup­port for peo­ple with HIV in dif­fi­cult life situa­tions has become no less important since the foun­ding of the orga­ni­sa­tion. From the pro­ces­sing of an HIV-posi­tive test result, through to con­flicts in the part­ner­ship, to the topic of HIV in old age, a struc­tu­red con­ver­sa­tion with a coun­se­lor and sha­ring infor­ma­tion can con­tri­bute to pro­ces­sing or over­co­ming a dif­fi­cult situa­tion. The basis for this is our accep­ting atti­tude towards the life­styles of our clients.

Even though most peo­ple with HIV now have a nor­mal working life, it is often the reci­pi­ents of public bene­fits who turn to us for advice. The com­pli­ca­ted appli­ca­tion pro­cess and secu­ring of unem­ploy­ment bene­fits, social assis­tance, pen­sion or bene­fits under the Asylum See­kers Bene­fits Act, and the neces­sary coope­ra­tion with the rele­vant aut­ho­ri­ties is a major chall­enge – and not only for peo­ple with a migra­tion back­ground and lan­guage bar­rier. Our social coun­seling staff help peo­ple with HIV through the appli­ca­tion and objec­tion pro­ce­du­res as well as mediate with authorities.

We also offer other sup­port ser­vices for vul­nerable groups, such as sub­sti­tu­tion pati­ents, men* who have sex with men*, women* and peo­ple with a migra­tion background.

The declared focus of Check­Point Han­no­ver’s acti­vi­ties is the pre­ven­tion of new infec­tions with HIV and other sexu­ally trans­mit­ted infec­tions (STIs) through tar­get group-spe­ci­fic edu­ca­tio­nal work. Today, HIV is trans­mit­ted sexu­ally in almost all cases, approx. 12% via intra­ve­nous drug use. Accor­ding to esti­ma­tes by the Robert Koch Insti­tute, around 2,000 peo­ple are newly infec­ted with HIV in Ger­many every year, just over half of them through cont­act bet­ween men who have sex with men (see RKI 2021). These infec­tion figu­res are very low by inter­na­tio­nal stan­dards, not least due to the effec­tive pre­ven­tion work of AIDS ser­vice organizations.

Our pre­ven­tion work is lar­gely sup­ported by our vol­un­teer teams. The SVeN team (Schwule Viel­falt erregt Nie­der­sach­sen – Gay Diver­sity Exci­tes Lower Sax­ony), for exam­ple, is out and about in the gay and queer scene in Hano­ver under this Lower Sax­ony-wide label of the AIDS ser­vice orga­niza­ti­ons. Infor­ma­tion on pro­tec­tion opti­ons is pas­sed on in a fun, easy-to-under­stand way. The tar­get group is empowered to pro­tect them­sel­ves effec­tively against HIV and other sexu­ally trans­mit­ted infections.

Our school pre­ven­tion pro­gram starts much ear­lier. Sui­ta­bly trai­ned HIV-posi­tive vol­un­teers talk to school clas­ses from year 8 onwards about living with HIV from their own per­spec­tive and pro­vide infor­ma­tion about pro­tec­tion opti­ons. In this way, pre­ven­tion and anti-dis­cri­mi­na­tion work is car­ried out simultaneously.

Only those who know their cur­rent HIV sta­tus can pro­tect them­sel­ves and their sexual part­ners from trans­mis­sion. Fur­ther­more, the ear­lier an HIV infec­tion is detec­ted, the bet­ter it can be trea­ted. For this reason, the Robert Koch Insti­tute and the Fede­ral Minis­try of Health have been cal­ling for an expan­sion of low-thres­hold test­ing ser­vices for years. Han­nö­ver­sche AIDS-Hilfe e.V. has been offe­ring a rapid HIV-syphi­lis com­bi­na­tion test three times a month in the evenings since 2014, which pro­vi­des relia­ble infor­ma­tion on the sta­tus in just a few minu­tes. In addi­tion to this, we have also been offe­ring a sexu­ally trans­mit­ted infec­tions test for sexu­ally active peo­ple since 2016. Both test­ing ser­vices are car­ried out by vol­un­teer doc­tors in close coope­ra­tion with the Hannover Region Health Department.

In 1981, an unu­sual form of pneu­mo­nia and a rare form of skin can­cer, Kapo­si’s sar­coma, occur­red more fre­quently in gay men, first in the USA and then for the first time in Ger­many in 1982. These phe­no­mena were appar­ently due to an acqui­red immune defi­ci­ency, as was soon cor­rectly assu­med. This dise­ase was initi­ally cal­led Gay Peo­p­le’s Immuno Defi­ency Syn­drome (GIDS). The Ger­man media, above all Der Spie­gel, soon repor­ted exten­si­vely on this new gay epi­de­mic, alt­hough there was ulti­m­ately no cla­rity about the exact cau­ses of the dise­ase. Alt­hough it was suspec­ted as early as 1983 that it could be tra­ced back to a trans­mis­si­ble patho­gen, HIV was not con­firmed as the actual cause until March 1985.

These reports were also read with con­cern in the Hano­ver­ian les­bian and gay cen­ter HOME e.V. in Johann­sen­straße. Alt­hough no con­crete cases of AIDS had yet been repor­ted in Hano­ver, the gays here were also worried about the dise­ase and, above all, about govern­ment repri­sals. Con­ser­va­tive par­ties were alre­ady cal­ling for those affec­ted to be bar­r­acked and for the gay sub­cul­ture to be sup­pres­sed as a sup­po­sed nucleus.

In 1984, dis­cus­sion evenings were con­ve­ned in the group room of the HOME cen­ter to exch­ange the little infor­ma­tion available and to find a com­mon poli­ti­cal direc­tion. These mee­tings gave rise to the idea of foun­ding an AIDS-Hilfe in Hano­ver, fol­lo­wing the exam­ple of the Deut­sche AIDS-Hilfe e.V. in Ber­lin, which had been foun­ded a year ear­lier. After Ber­lin, Munich and Ham­burg, this was the fourth AIDS-Hilfe in Germany.

Even back then, the aim was to coll­ect and pass on serious infor­ma­tion about AIDS, i.e. to raise awa­re­ness. The first leaf­lets were typed up on type­wri­ters and dis­tri­bu­ted at infor­ma­tion stands at Kröp­cke on Satur­days when shops were open. In addi­tion to a lot of rejec­tion, there was also a lot of inte­rest and soli­da­rity. For exam­ple the then mana­ger of Café Kröp­cke pro­vi­ded the acti­vists with fresh coffee.

At the time, Lower Sax­ony was gover­ned by the CDU with Minis­ter Pre­si­dent Albrecht. The newly foun­ded asso­cia­tion approa­ched the state govern­ment early on to make its­elf available as a com­pe­tent point of cont­act for the gay sub­cul­ture, but also to request fun­ding for the neces­sary edu­ca­tio­nal work. The state of Lower Sax­ony accepted this offer, as they had no idea what the gay sub­cul­ture in Hano­ver and Lower Sax­ony loo­ked like, let alone how to take edu­ca­tio­nal and pre­ven­ta­tive action there.

The Han­nö­ver­sche AIDS-Hilfe soon recei­ved an initial sum of seve­ral thousand marks from the Lower Sax­ony Minis­try of Social Affairs. This was spent pri­ma­rily on the pro­duc­tion of leaf­lets, but also on a tele­phone hel­pline that was soon set up and ope­ra­ted in the con­ser­va­tory of the first chair­man, Wer­ner Noelle. The orga­niza­tion also became active throug­hout the state by loo­king for acti­vists in some of Lower Sax­ony’s lar­ger cities to sup­port the estab­lish­ment of fur­ther AIDS ser­vice orga­niza­ti­ons in their towns. This soon led to the estab­lish­ment of AIDS-Hil­fen Olden­burg, Wil­helms­ha­ven, Celle and Lüne­burg. Over­all, the Hano­ver AIDS ser­vice orga­niza­tion made efforts to fur­ther expand its lob­by­ing work. New vol­un­teers joi­ned the orga­niza­tion. Bernd Weste, the cur­rent hono­rary chair­man of Han­nö­ver­sche AIDS-Hilfe e.V., initi­ally joi­ned the advi­sory group, but soon took on board respon­si­bi­lity. He has played a key role in the orga­ni­sa­tion ever since.

In 1985, the first case of AIDS appeared in Hano­ver. Billa Mül­ler (her self-cho­sen pseud­onym) was hete­ro­se­xual (!) and had pro­ba­bly con­trac­ted HIV from her drug-using boy­fri­end. She had heard about the Han­nö­ver­sche AIDS-Hilfe e.V. in the media and approa­ched the foun­ders of the AIDS-Hilfe, who were all gay, for sup­port. She urgen­tly nee­ded their help. Due to little relia­ble infor­ma­tion being available, many false reports and the resul­ting wide­spread fear, she met with a lot of rejec­tion: doc­tors did not want to treat her, nur­sing staff only wan­ted to touch her – if at all – under mas­sive pro­tec­tive mea­su­res, fri­ends and family kept their distance. Alt­hough she was alre­ady sever­ely wea­k­ened by AIDS, Billa Mül­ler, with the sup­port of mem­bers of Han­nö­ver­sche AIDS-Hilfe e.V., took a proac­tive approach to her ill­ness. She publicly admit­ted her infec­tion in talk shows and on the radio and thus became a sym­bol of the fact that the sup­po­sed gay epi­de­mic AIDS does not stop at anyone.