First-ever Jamaica transgender strategy looks beyond health

 | 
1/8/2021

Imagine using a health-care system that has no concept of you as a person, or of your unique needs. Nurses might not ask important questions. Doctors might overlook the solutions you really require. You might feel unwelcome. That has always been the reality for transgender people in Jamaica. A new strategy seeks to change this. With support from UNAIDS and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), TransWave Jamaica has launched the Trans and Gender Non-Conforming National Health Strategy, the first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean. The five-year plan is a rights-based road map for how the health and well-being of transgender people can be advanced. It moves beyond recommendations for the health-care system to the structural and societal changes necessary to achieve equitable access to services and opportunities for the transgender community. “Too many transgender people stay home and suffer or change who they are to access public health-care spaces,” explained TransWave Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy, Renae Green. “We need improvement to basic services, including psychosocial support. And we need transgender people to be able to access public health services as their authentic selves.” Through the Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework Country Envelope for Jamaica, UNAIDS collaborated with UNFPA to support a robust year-long process of research, community engagement and strategy development, including a monitoring and evaluation framework. The strategy development process was informed by a multisectorial steering committee composed of civil society organizations, international cooperation partners and government authorities.

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 12/09/2024
12/08/2024
As mpox cases continue to rise across Australia, a gay venue in Perth is offering free vaccinations. The vast majority of cases in the …
Added on: 12/09/2024
12/08/2024
For years after coming out as transgender, Ling’er, an aspiring influencer in eastern China, struggled from heartbreak to heartbreak. Her family refused to accept …
Added on: 12/09/2024
12/08/2024
Hate crime charges have been dropped for all but three of the 15 students at Salisbury University in Maryland who police said targeted a man …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Added on: 11/29/2024
WILLEMSTAD – From December 2 to 4, the LGBTQI+ Allies Conference will take place at the Kura Hulanda Conference Center on Curaçao. Organized by …
Added on: 11/10/2024
Martinique is called the Island of Flowers, but it is currently undergoing an intense social crisis that combines LGBTphobic violence and painful inflation. Martinique …
Added on: 11/06/2024
Lesbians and queer women in Haiti are living in fear after notorious gang leader Krisla, who is believed to be behind numerous heinous kidnappings, …