The Dutch HIV Association represents the interests of people living with HIV in The Netherlands. They also provide objective information about living with HIV and organize peer support.
House of Hiv – House of HIV Vereniging
The association’s story begins in the mid-1980s, with the formation of the first advocacy groups for people with HIV and Aids in the Netherlands: the Alliance for People with Aids (BMA) and the Advocacy Group for Seropositives (BSP).
Through her work as an STI nurse at Amsterdam’s Public Health Service (GGD) in the early 1980s, Jeannette Kok had come to know many of the first people here with Aids, many of whom were gay men. Together with psychologist David Stein, she led the first discussion groups for gay men with Aids. That was where the idea for the BMA originated. Harry and Coenraad, who had come up with the plan for the alliance, wanted Jeannette to serve on its board: “We are going to die, you are alive!” Around the same time, Arjen Lindeman and some of his friends started the BSP.
The emergence of two separate interest groups had to do with the perceived difference between having HIV and being diagnosed with Aids. When it gradually became clear that both groups were fighting for the same thing, they decided to join forces, forming a single association. Hiv Vereniging Nederland officially came into being in 1990.
The Hiv Vereniging has two rooms in House of HIV. On the ground floor you will find the history room, with more stories from people who have contributed in different ways to the HIV community and the association in particular. On the first floor you can see a second room that was put together together with the HIV monitoring foundation and in which the diversity of the community is celebrated.
Photos of the history room:
Photos of the Stichting hiv monitoring room:
