World Aids Day

HIV testing and treatment for expat Berliners

30. Nov. 2014

Even if your German isn’t great, getting a cheap and anonymous HIV test in Berlin is easy. SIEGESSÄULE offers advice on how to deal when you’re positive

It’s not an unfamiliar scenario. Out on the town one Saturday night, you find yourself in one of Berlin’s myriad sex clubs. A few drinks in and you’re randy enough to head into the abyss of the darkroom. And whether through drunken negligence or the embarrassing fact that condoms are mostly kept behind the bar and available only upon request (or worse yet, through a vending machine), you ride the stud bareback that evening.

The morning after can be surreal. According to estimates for the year-end 2013 by the Robert Koch Institute, there are approximately 12,000 gay men living with HIV in Berlin. While HIV is not an uncommon infection here, determining your status and treating it can seem foreboding if you’re a foreigner. Low incomes and questions of health insurance – on top of the language barrier – might make things seem difficult. But it’s relatively simple. So what’s the first step?

There are four main gay-friendly public services in Berlin that deal with HIV – Mann-O-Meter and Berliner AIDS-Hilfe in Schöneberg, Schwulenberatung Berlin in Charlottenburg and Pluspunkt in Kreuzberg. All four provide anonymous testing and counseling in English (and some in other languages). Tests typically cost €10-€15, although no one will be turned away for lack of funds, and insurance not a question. Opportunities in Kreuzberg to get tested anonymously are also found at Fixpunkt and the Center for Sexual Health and Family Planning. All Gesundheitsämter (health clinics) in Berlin also offer HIV-Testing, anonymous and free of charge if desired. Anonymous testing has its benefits – it keeps your name off the insurance company grid and the results off your health record, should you ever be in a position where someone could discriminate against you.

Testing in Berlin with little or no money (or insurance) is not so much of an issue. But if the results come back pack positive, the situation can be a little trickier. If you have a visa and health insurance, visit ak AIDS and select your Bezirk (district) to find one of around 40 specialist doctors available. They will help you set up a treatment that’s right for you, and your insurance will cover it along with the medication. Praxis City Ost in Friedrichshain, for example, has doctors knowledgeable in HIV who speak English. The sooner you get treated, the better off you are.

The question of the uninsured is not as simple. And those without Schengen Area passports have no claim to the benefits of the German health system. Contrary to rumor, if you contract HIV in Germany, that does not give you the right to stay. (Only those from countries where treatment for HIV is negligible or non-existent, such as Mali, can apply for asylum in a long and complicated process.) Those from the USA or other western countries are out of luck, at least in terms of their HIV. Without proper health insurance, access to medications is extremely difficult. If staying here isn’t the issue, finding health insurance here in Germany is the next step, which can be expensive, but it’s compulsory anyway.

Regardless, Berliner AIDS-Hilfe recommends that the first thing to do once you find out you’re positive is contact them. Whatever your case, uninsured or no visa or otherwise, they, as well as Schwulenberatung and Mann-o-meter, will help you get counseling and advise you on what to do next. Unfortunately, there is no blanket guidelines; it’s a case-by-case basis for getting the treatment you need. At any rate, the organizations are committed to helping you get what you need.

Whatever your situation here in Berlin, the first step is to get tested, and if positive, to get counseling. Language barriers are less the issue here these days than insurance and legal status.

Walter Crasshole

Berliner AIDS-Hilfe, Kurfürstenstr. 130, 030 8856400

Schwulenberatung, Niebuhrstr. 59-60, 030 23369070

Mann-O-Meter, Bülowstr. 106, 030 2168008

Plus Punkt, Wilhelmstr. 115, 030 4466880, 030 4466 880

Fixpunkt, Reichenberg Str. 131, 030 616 755 880

Zentrum für sexuelle Gesundheit und Familienplanung Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Urbanstraße 24, 030 90298-8363

Find suitable doctors by Bezirk: ak AIDS

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