Germany - Seal of quality Practice Diversity

The Seal of quality PRACTICE DIVERSITY is a certificate awarded by the German AIDS Self-Help Association. The seal of approval is awarded to doctors and their offices if they are trained in HIV-specific, respectful communication and are welcoming all patients, no matter their origin, race, sexuality, or culture.

The Seal of quality PRACTICE DIVERSITY was developed by the German AIDS Association in cooperation with:

• Representatives of the AIDS services in Aachen, Baden-Württemberg, Giessen, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saar, Weimar and East Thuringia

• German AIDS Society (DAIG)

• German Association of Physicians in Private Practice in the Care of HIV-Infected Persons (dagnä)

• Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD)

• TransInterQueer (TrIQ)

• baobab get-together

• physicians in private practice and clinicians

• activists

The PRAXIS VIELFALT project is funded by the AOK-Die Gesundheitskasse.

People living with HIV need constant and competent medical care due to their chronic infection. Feelings of insecurity, ignorance, prejudice or even rejection by doctors and medical staff persist. This is experienced also by LGBTIQ and people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, often leading to discriminations, e.g., on the basis of sexual identity and ethnic origin and could lead to inadequate medical care.

The PRAXIS VIELFALT seal of approval has been designed to strengthen healthcare medical teams’ diversity of competences and for them to acquire required sensitivity in dealing with people living with HIV as well as LGBTIQ persons from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

From the perspective of people living with HIV, the seal allows them to be more confident when requesting healthcare services.

From a healthcare staff perspective, the practice is more likely to be recommended to other people living with HIV. Healthcare staff also see their knowledge about people living with HIV increase, among others, and therefore become more likely to provide better care and grasp a better understanding of all aspects of discrimination.

The seal of approval is obtained by healthcare professionals by working as a team through a range of working materials (e.g., checklists, e-learning modules, seminars, online seminars). These materials have been developed with all the project’s partners and every important aspect is considered.

An annual quality development plan is also developed, enabling the full process to be regularly evaluated and improved if necessary.

Due to their different tasks, practice teams (employees who are in contact with people with HIV but do not carry out treatments themselves) and treatment teams (those who take responsibility for the medical treatment of people living with HIV and/or carry out treatment measures independently) are usually distinguished in the material. However, and wherever possible, the programme is designed jointly for both groups in order to open up a wider range of perspectives.

The project is ongoing and the overall experience of people living with HIV in healthcare settings with Seal of quality PRACTICE DIVERSITY was positive. 

Overall, the Seal of quality PRACTICE DIVERSITY points at several areas for improvement, namely:

• Increase medical staff’s awareness and ability to deal with people living with HIV when providing care.

• Increase trust of people living with HIV in medical staff, making sure that safe medical spaces are provided for them.