Discrimination deprives transgender people of due rights

Consultative meeting mulls preventing spread of HIV/AIDS in vulnerable communities


Our Correspondent November 18, 2017
Consultative meeting mulls preventing spread of HIV/AIDS in vulnerable communities. PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR: Overlapping social, cultural, legal and economic factors contribute to pushing transgender people to society’s fringes, a prominent religious scholar Mufti Jameel said at a consultative meeting of stakeholders held to discuss modes of preventing spread of HIV/Aids among vulnerable people.

“Transgender people are more likely to drop out of education and have to move away from family and friends, and face discrimination, limiting their educational and economic opportunities,” Jameel said, the trans community encounters problems accessing basic goods and services and even public spaces.

Speakers at the consultative meeting held on Friday urged the stakeholders for creating awareness to stop spread of HIV/Aids among the vulnerable communities like transgender people.

The event was organised in Peshawar Press Club by Blue Veins in collaboration with TransAction, a transgender rights group which helps provide HIV/Aids screening, counselling and service centres for transgender community in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

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People from various walks of life including transgender activists, health professionals, policymakers, representatives of NGOs, lawyers, students, teachers and religious leaders participated in the consultation.

The participants highlighted that transgender people in K-P experience high levels of stigma, discrimination, gender-based violence and abuse, marginalisation and social exclusion making them less likely or able to access services, damages their health and wellbeing, and puts them at higher risk of HIV.

Blue Veins Organisation chief Qamar Naseem said that according to the statistics from National AIDS Control Programme, HIV is primarily concentrating among the two key populations, people who inject drugs (27.2%) followed by transgender sex worker (5.2%). “In response to these overwhelming statistics and the vulnerability of transgender community, HIV needs of transgender community of K-P should be taken care of and discussed candidly,” Naseem said, adding, they [transgender] should have access to free screening, counselling and medication services.

Farzana Jan, a transgender and president of the TransAction Alliance said the lack of awareness and commercial considerations keep transgender community away from testing and revealing their HIV/AIDS status, accessing HIV health care remained another challenge.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2017.

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