The Republic is taking care of its bums. Across all 16 federal states, from Augsburg to Bremen to Erfurt, gay men are taking advantage of the free STI rapid test as part of the IWWIT test weeks.
Around 80 regional Aids projects, health authorities and scene facilities are taking part in the unique testing and counselling campaign, which has been running from the beginning of April until 17 May. Easy-to-use anal swabs are offered, which can be used to detect possible infections of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as gonorrhoea and chlamydia, simply and anonymously.
Munich AIDS-Hilfe has already sold around 100 of these swab kits to gay men at its test appointments at the Checkpoint since April. The flyer advertising in the scene had obviously worked very well.
"Some had originally come to the regular test appointments for an HIV examination and then also took advantage of the anal swab test," reports Christopher Knoll from the Munich AIDS service organisation.
Many people have only become aware of the fact that men who are sexually active and have changing partners should be regularly tested for potential STI infections - especially in the anal area - as a result of this campaign. The test kit makes things easy: you just need to go to the toilet and can take the smear test yourself with a quick slide through the crack. In the checkpoint, the instructions for use were conveniently placed in a clearly visible location and a practical shelf for the utensils was also installed.
Berlin's Mann-O-Meter was also very busy. In April alone, around 80 men came to the regular HIV test appointments at the gay information centre specifically because of the smear test. Project manager Marcus Behrens is therefore keen to keep the service as a permanent component of the prevention programme. Bremen's public health department is already further along in this respect, as this form of extended diagnostics has been standard and free of charge there since last autumn (which is unfortunately not yet a matter of course). Nevertheless, the I KNOW WHAT I DO test weeks have brought new insights for Martin Taschies from the HIV and STI counselling centre in the Hanseatic city. "During the counselling sessions, I noticed that there are still many sexually active gay men who know very little about hepatitis and are therefore not vaccinated." Taschies has also learnt something new when it comes to using the test sticks: lubricant on the cotton swab may make the sample unusable for the laboratory. Anyone who has just enjoyed the pleasures of a fuck should not go for a swab immediately afterwards...
Even far away from the gay metropolises, the campaign has inspired many men to take greater care of their sexual health.
In Wiesbaden, only ten test sets were ordered as a precaution and were surprised at how quickly they sold out. In Darmstadt, the queer community association "Vielbunt" publicised the I KNOW WHAT I DO test weeks primarily via websites and social media. Many were initially only interested in the rapid HIV test, says Uschi Linn from the local AIDS service organisation. During counselling, she motivated the men to also take up the offer of a smear test.
In Hildesheim, the project "SVEN" (Gay Diversity in Lower Saxony) had motivated the boys to take the test with their own information evening and on a very personal level in the scene.
There were also test programmes in rural areas, such as Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg. However, gays in the town of 25,000 inhabitants did not get to see the plump bum on the I KNOW WHAT I DO poster for the testing weeks. Dr Hans-Joachim Adam from the local Aids and STI counselling service took the precaution of not using the "striking motif" - out of consideration for the heterosexual clientele of his facility, as he says. However, it was advertised in the gay scene facilities, and half a dozen gay men attended the first test appointment straight away. Incidentally, chlamydia was detected in every second man. This is not the only reason why Dr Adam is already certain that the smear test will remain on offer in future, so that sexually active men can ideally have themselves routinely tested once a year. But it will probably no longer be free of charge. On www.iwwit.de but test dates can still be viewed.
