The first census of the population of transgender people in Italy

WHAT is the difference between the word transgender and the word transsexual ? With what kind of contact a person that you do not recognize in your body? The lost language of a good part of the italians reflects the embarrassment of our Country in relation to persons whose gender identity is not aligned with the sex assigned at birth. This embarrassment is even statistical: right now, we have no idea how many people are transgender in Italy. To fill this gap, Azienda ospedaliera universitaria Careggi, University of Florence, Istituto superiore di sanità, fondazione The Bridge with the support of the national Observatory on gender identity have initiated a population study called the SPoT. A word game that intertwines the mission of the survey, i.e. the Estimate of the Population, a Transgender adult in Italy, and the English verb ‘spot’ i.e. to identify. Through a brief questionnaire completely anonymous fill-in form online (at the following address: www.studiopopolazionespot.it/) and addressed to the general population, the researchers hope to quantify for the first time, the number of this population of vulnerable and often invisible. When you are not openly discriminated against.

“The data of the international scientific literature suggest that the percentage of the population is transgender should be between 0.5 and 1.2% of the total. If confirmed also in our Country, consterebbe in about 400 thousand italians,” explains Marina Pierdominic , a researcher for the reference Centre for the medicine of kind of the higher Institute of health. In our Country, the most recent available data are from a study, published in 2011, which considered the population transgender adult underwent surgery for the affirmation of gender between 1992 and 2008. The study shows a number equal to 424 transsexual women and 125 men transsexuals. “However this is a minimum estimate, limited to a subgroup of a population that is vast and varied: not all people feel the need to undergo surgical treatment or hormonal,” says the researcher, pointing to the lack information is translated into a lack of healthcare planning effective, “hampered by the absence of information on the general health of the population is transgender.”

That transgender is a segment of the population marginalized with respect to health policies with the obstacles in the use of health services both general and specialised. For example, the potential for drug interactions between hormonal treatments and other therapies are often ignored while the transgender people who have obtained the exchange's age, they may have difficulty access some of the screening programmes provided for the general population. “The situation in Italy is patchy: the specialized centers in the medicine genre are few and concentrated mainly in the north; some regions are responsible for hormone treatments while others do not” remember Pierdominici. The roots of the inadequacy of the health personnel in dealing with transgender people are rooted in the absence of courses within the faculties of universities. Not only at the clinical level, but also information and awareness of the operators. The medical records do not report the gender identity and thus it may happen that transsexual women are hospitalized in the wards of the male and vice versa. In addition, the social stigma often pushes these people to turn to the black market of the drugs rather than consult your doctor.

“The knowledge of the actual number of transgender people is the first step toward the actual take-over of this population on the part of the health care system. This would allow an improvement in the quality of life and health, as well as an optimization of expenditure national health care,” says Pierdominici. In parallel, will be multiplied efforts of awareness-raising of health professionals both in the general population, starting from the use of the correct terminology. That's why, at the end of the questionnaire, the user will receive a small booklet containing the definitions of the most suitable. What is the difference between the word transgender, the word transsexual? To find out, you just need to fill in the questionnaire.

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