Prejudice, discrimination, harassment and abuse are damaging to transgender people\u2019s health and wellbeing in ways that are not properly understood, even amongst health professionals, according to a paper recently published in The Lancet.<\/p>\n
Lead author Associate Professor Sam Winter, of Â鶹ֱ²¥\u2019s School of Public Health, explained that transgender people are often excluded from society due to themselves and their needs being little understood by health care providers, legislators, policy makers, family members and people in general.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransgender people face stigma on a daily basis throughout their lives,\u201d Associate Professor Winter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrejudice, discrimination, harassment, abuse and violence all conspire to drive them to the margins of society where they experience social isolation and poverty, and alarmingly, poor health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorldwide, transgender women are 49 times more likely than the general population to be HIV positive and over 2100 trans people have been murdered in the last eight years – and those are the ones we know about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransgender people\u2019s issues are often conflated with sexual orientation \u2013 for instance a transgender woman will often be perceived and treated, including by primary health care providers, as a gay man.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther sustaining and aggravating the stigma is the World Health Organisation\u2019s (WHO) diagnostic classification of transgender people as \u2018mentally disordered\u2019,\u201d Associate Professor Winter said.<\/p>\n
A proposal for transgender to be removed from WHO\u2019s list of mental disorders and replaced with a diagnosis of \u2018gender incongruence\u2019 will be considered during the annual meeting of WHO\u2019s governing body in May 2018.<\/p>\n
Associate Professor Winter explained gender incongruence means these people experience life, their inner selves, in a gender different to the sex they were assigned at birth.<\/p>\n
\u201cGender incongruence is not a lifestyle choice,\u201d Associate Professor Winter said.<\/p>\n
He also said based on population studies, it is estimated that there are approximately 25 million transgender people worldwide.<\/p>\n
He explained that the actual numbers of gender incongruent people are unknown because since they so often face stigma and discrimination, they are less likely to express their gender incongruence, or identify publicly as transgender.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not surprising that they avoid openly identifying as transgender and therefore remain \u2018hidden\u2019 in actual statistical data,\u201d Associate Professor Winter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of numbers, governments and public and private entities should invest in public education on the subject of gender incongruence so that transgender people can enjoy full social inclusion and benefit from the same health and well-being that the rest of society takes for granted,\u201d Associate Professor Winter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose working with transgender people, including primary health care providers, must be trained in the area to provide services that are sensitive to transgender people\u2019s rights and more responsive to their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n