Dildos and Condoms against Stigmatization of HIV
At the World-Aids-Conference in Munich, there is not only a scientific part but also a publicly accessible area. Activists and organizations present themselves here. They fight against stigmatization and discrimination.
Dragqueens invite to a workout-like workshop, a film tells the story of a child living with HIV and other people in Ukraine, activists promote condoms for open engagement with sexuality. Nearly 200 NGOs, organizations, and representatives of various communities present themselves in a hall of the World-Aids-Conference in Munich at the Global Village.
This part of the congress is publicly accessible and aims to bring together people who engage in issues of the HIV community, in addition to the scientific part, and inform the public. It unites the fight against the spread of the virus but also against stigmatization and discrimination.
Place for Exchange
"It's about creating a lively place for exchange and making the topic tangible," says Tobias Weismantel, managing director of the Munich Aids-Help and co-chairman of the Global Village. "HIV is a global problem." It can only be solved by working together worldwide. It's not enough to say that Germany is a low-incidence country.
"I am Juliana, born with HIV. And I am a Game-Changer," a woman self-confidently pinned a pink-colored Post-it note to a board. The conference, which expects over 10,000 attendees, provides a space for people living with HIV, for members of the LGBTQ community.
At the Monday evening opening ceremony, guests from all over the world showed up colorfully and defiantly. "Trans-rights now," a group shouted at the end of the opening ceremony, during which Ugandan transman Jay Mulucha described how dangerous life is for HIV-positive transgender people in Uganda. It's important to be heard, he called out to the audience. In Uganda, which has made good progress in the fight against HIV so far, the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" is threatened starting in 2023.
Older People with HIV
In a "Silver Zone" at the Global Village, it's specifically about older people living with HIV. These people often have to take many medications, some have a long HIV history behind them, with many complications, said the local congress president Christoph Spinner, an infectious disease specialist at the Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich.
Some of them had been discriminated against their whole lives, added Weismantel. Some had suffered under the repealed "homosexual paragraph" 175, which at the time criminalized sex between men.
Fernanda Galvis, project manager of LetsStopAids from Canada, reports on school visits. "I go to schools - and sometimes the students have never heard of AIDS." At the stand, provocative dildos are set up, which visitors can throw rings onto as a small gambling game. It's about not tabooing sexuality, said Galvis.
Only education and an open approach enable young people to make the right decision for prevention. Many now use Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a medication that can be taken daily or on demand before risky contacts and prevents the virus from spreading in the body.
Condoms, although in large quantities distributed at the Global Village to visitors, remain an effective and cost-effective method for HIV prevention, according to experts, but they are, as reported from various sides at the conference, used less and less.
At the Global Village within the World-Aids-Conference in Munich, representatives from Ukraine showcase a film about a child living with HIV, highlighting the international aspect of the HIV fight. Tobias Weismantel, managing the Munich Aids-Help, emphasizes that older individuals living with HIV, particularly those with long histories and complications, need support and understanding.
