About one in five of the roughly 1,000 people living with HIV in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern do not know they are infected, according to Health Minister Stefanie Drese (SPD). She cited a calculation by the Robert Koch Institute for this estimate.
The minister urged that the number of people unaware of their infection be brought down. “Once the infection is known, an effective therapy can begin. The individuals then do not develop AIDS and new HIV infections will continue to decline.”
However, the minister notes that in Rostock, the largest city in MV, there are gaps in counseling and testing. “There was a partial outage at the health department responsible for this in the city,” she explained. Additionally, the State Office for Health and Social Affairs, based in Rostock, stopped its HIV and sexually transmitted diseases hours at the start of 2026.
According to Drese, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern recorded 60 new HIV infections in 2024. Five people died as a result. “An HIV infection is nowadays well treatable,” she emphasized. “When diagnosed and treated early, a normal life expectancy is possible.” Critical to achieving this are knowledge about risks and easily accessible testing opportunities.
Drese visited this week the Rostock Center for Sexual Health of the Rostock AIDS Help. The staff specialized in sexual health education runs programs for children and adolescents, accompanies HIV-positive people, and provides counseling as well as HIV testing. Demand rose sharply in 2025. Drese, in this context, expressed the expectation that the Rostock Health Department would be staffed again so that the task could be carried out once more.
