Imagine being identified by the wrong gender in the lobby of your own doctor’s office, or having trouble finding a job, or being rejected by your own family, because you are a transgender person.
These situations complicate an already difficult daily experience for trans people, and they increase the risk of HIV among an already-vulnerable population in South Florida, according to a new study by Human Rights Watch.
The research focused on transgender women living with HIV, who face discrimination and lack of access to proper healthcare in Miami-Dade and Broward counties — despite significant government funding for medication and services.
The findings reveal troubling shortcomings in the healthcare systems that are meant to serve marginalized communities — insufficient cultural sensitivity training for medical employees, inadequate data collection to measure HIV’s impact on the transgender community and barriers that make it harder for people to get their medications.
Read more at our news partner, The Miami Herald.
