Sexual Health Doctors

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Doctors for Sexual Health (AefsG) is a non-profit Swiss medical association with around 400 individual members. It was founded in 1989 under the name "AIDS Education Switzerland, Doctors for HIV Prevention" (AAS) in the context of the Association for the Promotion of Psychological Knowledge of Human Being (VPM) . In 2013, with the expansion of the purpose to the entire area of ​​sexual health, the name became «Dr. Sexual Health, Doctors for Sexual Health »Changed. In 2019, the general assembly shortened it to “Doctors for Sexual Health” (AefsG), with otherwise unchanged statutes.

Purpose of the association

The purpose of the association is to promote sexual health and to stand up for sexual rights. It is based on the corresponding definitions of the World Health Organization (WHO) for sexual health. In the area of ​​sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the association supports the goals of the National Project for HIV and Other STIs (NPHS) of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health . The association stands for differentiated prevention measures and advocates a wide range of prevention options as proposed by the New Public Health Strategy of the WHO and UNAIDS: Recommendations for testing according to risk situations, partner information, low-risk sexual behavior, reduction in the number of partners, " Loyalty ”, serosorting (HIV-negatives also choose HIV-negative partners), treatment of STI-infected people, vaccinations, etc. The association always opposes the taboo and stigmatization of people with STIs (including HIV) or other sexual problems. It supports sexual rights such as social recognition and equality of homosexuals and other sexual identities (orientations).

He works to ensure that the findings of modern sexual medicine become common property. AefsG focuses spatially on Switzerland and in terms of content on the most common problems with sexual health:

History

The association was founded under the name Aids Education Switzerland in 1989 in the context of the Association for the Promotion of Psychological Knowledge of Human Being (VPM) . He was in opposition to Aids-Hilfe Schweiz and criticized the safer sex advertising campaigns. The AAS ensured that as far as possible every HIV-infected person has the right to know their HIV and STI status so that they can take responsibility for their own behavior. He therefore called for the abolition of the special HIV status in the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. The reasons for recommending the HIV test and partner information with informed consent were exclusively medical and ethical. AAS met with criticism from a large part of the medical profession.

At the beginning of the 2000s, the official HIV / STI strategy moved more and more away from the special HIV status and extended prevention to include sexual health. There is consensus that diagnosis and treatment as early as possible is critical. Today there are hardly any substantive differences between the official prevention and that of the AefsG. As a result, the association actively sought cooperation with the FOPH and its partners in order to make prevention in Switzerland more efficient.

The association remained active beyond the official dissolution of the VPM in 2002 and expanded its purpose to all sexually transmitted infections and sexual health in general in the early 2000s. The reason was that there are many burning problems in the area of ​​sexual health and that AIDS, but also HIV infection, has lost its importance. In 2013 the general meeting decided to change the name to “Dr. Sexual Health, Doctors for Sexual Health "(DrSH), and in 2019 the shortening of the name to" Doctors for Sexual Health ", AefsG.

activities

The association provides services in particular for the two target groups doctors and patients, since the affected groups are already supported by the BAG and other NGOs. The main activity of AefsG is to process scientific findings and to inform the two target groups in an easily understandable form. He is committed to ensuring that doctors actively address sexuality in their practice and that the sexual history becomes a matter of course. To this end, the initiative “Raising the awareness of doctors for sexual health” was launched.

The central information tool is the website. In addition, AefsG makes brochures available to the population free of charge. Telephone and online counseling on sexual health are offered. Articles are also published in the specialist and lay press. The association is guided by the recognized principles of medical science and medical ethics, with the support of its scientific advisory board with international representatives from a wide variety of medical disciplines.

AefsG's activities are largely carried out by volunteers. The association's expenses are covered by donations, which means that the association maintains its independence.

literature

  • Kurt April: Doctors for HIV Prevention. AIDS education in Switzerland 1989–1992. Activity, analyzes, reports, documentation. AIDS education Switzerland, Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-905085-16-X .
  • Hugo Stamm : VPM - The Soul Trap: «Psychological knowledge of human nature» as a healing program. Zurich 1993
  • WHO, UNAIDS (Ed.): Prevention and Treatment of HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections in Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transgender People. WHO, Geneva 2011.
  • "Doctors for Sexual Health" celebrate their 30th anniversary. Schweizerische Ärztezeitung 2020; 101 (1–2): 13–15.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Dr. Sexual Health. In: Swiss Medical Journal. 2014; 95, p. 244.
  2. ^ Defining sexual health. Report of a technical consultation on sexual health. World Health Organization, Geneva 2002/2006/2010.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Dr. Sexual Health. Annual reports 1989 to 2018. www.aefsg.ch.
  4. ↑ a b National Program on HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections (NPHS). Federal Office of Public Health, Bern 2010.
  5. ↑ a b WHO, UNAIDS (ed.): Prevention and Treatment of HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections in Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transgender People. WHO, Geneva 2011.
  6. ↑ "Doctors for Sexual Health" celebrate their 30th anniversary. Schweizerische Ärztezeitung 2020; 101 (1–2): 13–15.
  7. ↑ a b Dr. Sexual Health. Mission statement. Dr. Sexual Health, Horgen 2015.
  8. ↑ https://infekt.ch/2004/02/aids-aufklaerung-schweiz-ist-wieder-aktiv/
  9. ↑ a b Dr. Sexual Health. History and background. Horgen 2016 (www.drsh.ch)
  10. ^ David Kirp, Ronald Bayer: Strategies against AIDS. Rainer Bahn Verlag, Berlin 1994.
  11. ↑ a b Kurt April, Johannes Bitzer: Sexual health in medical practice - Call to Action. Switzerland Med Forum 2014; 14 (40), pp. 742–746.
  12. ↑ Peer Briken, Matthias Berner: Practice book sexual disorders. Thieme, Stuttgart 2013.
  13. ↑ Scientific Advisory Board of Doctors for Sexual Health, January 2016 (www.aefsg.ch)