Germany
Germany has a population of about 83 million. At the end of 2021 about 91000 people were living with HIV – with about 9000 being unaware of their infection.
Some 1800 people in Germany became infected with HIV in 2021.Half of these infections were attributed to unprotected sex between men about one-quarter to unprotectedsex between men and women and about one in six infections to the shared use of syringes and needlesfor drug use.
Roughly 2400 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2021 about one in threeof these HIV diagnoses were madeat a stage where the immune system had already been severely damaged and one in six even when AIDS symptoms were already present. The number of cases of HIV in Germany dropped significantly in the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. However the number of reported cases in 2022 increased again to over 3.2 thousand. HIV treatment is readily available and most people living with HIV get it. But in general it can still be difficult to reach recent immigrants and asylum seekers with HIV information.
(Source: Robert Koch Institute)
Telling their stories
HelpingHand is a unique organisation. In the wide range of healthcare bodies dealing with HIV you see quite a few that focus specifically on migrants. What you never see is what they do at HelpingHand, where patients, who are born in the same country, speaking the same mother language as the migrants, take care of the support and help.
Maria: ‘I had a wonderful experience with a young Colombian woman…’
Anako: ‘I’ve been here at HelpingHand for 5 years…’
Jate: ‘Sometimes when I feel bad I go back on the streets…’
Sonporm: ‘I want to be treated like everybody else…’
Yasmin: ‘I’m now at a completely different spirit…’
Annette: ‘My job is to offer them a perspective…’