Steffen Keller
Communications Manager, Malteser Hilfsdienst
MSc Political Communications 2022
Since graduating from the University of Glasgow, Steffen has had the privilege to plan and run an advocacy campaign supporting immigrants’ fundamental human right to public health care in Germany. After completing his postgraduate studies in political communication in 2022, he began working as a communications manager at the German Order of Malta Relief Organisation “Malteser Hilfsdienst”. In this role, he devised and executed communications strategies focusing primarily on marketing, recruitment, and fundraising goals.
However, he also learned about the “Malteser Hilfsdienst” running medical practices for people without health insurance. In fact, many marginalised people, primarily immigrants, are excluded from the German public health care system. Having realised this problem, he utilised his experience and professional resources to kick-start an advocacy campaign.
He first analysed where most patients without health insurance came from to create new information material in the appropriate languages. He also released annual statistical reports and organised press conferences to garner media interest. While his first press conference was attended by a single journalist, he was eventually able to create a snowball effect. Increasingly, journalists agreed to write newspaper articles on the subject. He ultimately facilitated the production of eight TV news reports and appeared as a (live) studio guest four times reaching over a million households. The growing public awareness of the subject also resulted in published articles in medical journals. Additionally, he organised the shooting of a short film that was presented at the annual “Deutscher Ärztetag” medical conference. This ultimately led to the Minister of Health in North Rhine-Westphalia agreeing to visit the medical practice for people without health insurance in Duisburg and to take part in a roundtable discussion and subsequent press conference that Steffen organised in February 2024.
Of all his achievements, Steffen is most proud of the increased public awareness resulting from his campaigns, that pressured the State Health Minister to announce that the advice centres assisting people without health insurance would not lose government funding.
