ZeSIA is Karlsruhe's centre for sexual health, identity and education, in the Weststadt. It is the same organisation that ran as AIDS-Hilfe Karlsruhe from 1985 and took the new name in 2023, widening the remit from HIV to sexual health as a whole.
The Checkpoint is the part most useful to a visitor: rapid testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, done at the centre. Testing runs by appointment, so it takes a phone call first rather than a walk-in.
Alongside it the centre offers counselling on HIV, sexual health, identity and discrimination, education work in schools and for health professionals, self-help groups for people living with HIV, and a queerCafé aimed at international queer people in the city. The association states plainly that it works for diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity.
Access to the building is step free. The catchment covers the city and district of Karlsruhe as well as Rastatt and Baden-Baden.
The people in this picture are AI-generated.
