Sari Reisner—making transgender health visible

Abstract

“Gender diversity exists in every culture and geographic context. It is to be celebrated, not pathologised”, says Sari Reisner, lead author of a paper in The Lancet's first Series on transgender health. Reisner's work is helping to advance this agenda. Based in Boston, USA, he enjoys a varied career as Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, with a secondary appointment at the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, and as Affiliated Research Scientist at The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health. Transgender people: health at the margins of societyIn this paper we examine the social and legal conditions in which many transgender people (often called trans people) live, and the medical perspectives that frame the provision of health care for transgender people across much of the world. Modern research shows much higher numbers of transgender people than were apparent in earlier clinic-based studies, as well as biological factors associated with gender incongruence. We examine research showing that many transgender people live on the margins of society, facing stigma, discrimination, exclusion, violence, and poor health. Full-Text PDF Serving transgender people: clinical care considerations and service delivery models in transgender healthThe World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care for transsexual, transgender, and gender non-conforming people (version 7) represent international normative standards for clinical care for these populations. Standards for optimal individual clinical care are consistent around the world, although the implementation of services for transgender populations will depend on health system infrastructure and sociocultural contexts. Some clinical services for transgender people, including gender-affirming surgery, are best delivered in the context of more specialised facilities; however, the majority of health-care needs can be delivered by a primary care practitioner. Full-Text PDF Global health burden and needs of transgender populations: a reviewTransgender people are a diverse population affected by a range of negative health indicators across high-income, middle-income, and low-income settings. Studies consistently document a high prevalence of adverse health outcomes in this population, including HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, mental health distress, and substance use and abuse. However, many other health areas remain understudied, population-based representative samples and longitudinal studies are few, and routine surveillance efforts for transgender population health are scarce. Full-Text PDF