Trans people still face numerous obstacles in their medical transition processes, despite the fact that the latest Government law introduced measures to mitigate these difficulties. The first national study in Spain on the health of trans and non-binary people carried out by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) reveals, in this sense, that two thirds of the people who underwent a surgical operation to change of sex they had to do it in private. The fear of being discriminated against, health barriers and long public health waiting lists were the main reasons for this situation.
The investigation, named Transhealth collect responses from 1,823 trans and non-binary people from the 17 autonomous communities of the country: 35% of the participants are trans men; 23% trans women; and 42% non-binary people, with an average age of about 26 years. The study thus aims to quantify the state of health and the difficulties that these groups go through when receiving services appropriate to their health needs; and also includes information about their experience in relation to their social visibility and the situations of violence and discrimination they face.
“It is important to understand that health, and especially mental health, is greatly influenced by the situations of discrimination and other types of violence that trans people face,” stressed MarÃa José Belza, the ISCIII scientist who has led the investigation. Situations that are not minimal, according to the study, which warns thate almost half of the participating people have been physically attacked at some point in their lives, something that affected the health of 80% of those who suffered from it.
The study also shows that the group faces obstacles when accessing the treatments necessary for their hormonal transition. In fact, 17% of trans women say they inject hormones without a prescription and 13% had to interrupt their hormonal transition due to lack of supply in pharmacies.
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