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"Buddies" Ease Transgenders' Hospital Visits in Argentina
Written by Marcela Valente
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
(IPS) - Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity.
"It's easier to communicate among ourselves than with hospital staff," Valeria Ramírez, a transgender promoter with the city of Buenos Aires' Programme to Facilitate Access to the Health System for the Transgender Population, told IPS.
In place since 2007, the strategy has increased the frequency of consultation and health check-ups by this marginalised community, as well as boosting the immune systems of those infected with HIV/AIDS.
Ramírez, who is also the coordinator of one of the centres run by the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation (FBAS), meets transgender patients as they arrive at the Ramos Mejía Acute General Hospital, and accompanies them as they request appointments and have X-rays and other tests.
"The plan emerged in order to improve the treatment rate of 'trans' persons, who exhibited high levels of illness," Dr Marcelo Losso, of the hospital's department of services for immunocompromised patients, told IPS.
( Read more... )
"Buddies" Ease Transgenders' Hospital Visits in Argentina
Written by Marcela Valente
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
(IPS) - Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity.
"It's easier to communicate among ourselves than with hospital staff," Valeria Ramírez, a transgender promoter with the city of Buenos Aires' Programme to Facilitate Access to the Health System for the Transgender Population, told IPS.
In place since 2007, the strategy has increased the frequency of consultation and health check-ups by this marginalised community, as well as boosting the immune systems of those infected with HIV/AIDS.
Ramírez, who is also the coordinator of one of the centres run by the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation (FBAS), meets transgender patients as they arrive at the Ramos Mejía Acute General Hospital, and accompanies them as they request appointments and have X-rays and other tests.
"The plan emerged in order to improve the treatment rate of 'trans' persons, who exhibited high levels of illness," Dr Marcelo Losso, of the hospital's department of services for immunocompromised patients, told IPS.
( Read more... )
