The researcher says that gender minorities have worse health conditions than the general population.

Researcher Ana Macedo warned this Wednesday that people from sexual and gender minorities are in worse health than the general population due to factors such as fear or discrimination that make it difficult to access health care.

“People from minority groups, including sexual and gender minorities [que se identificam como sendo LGBTQIA+ – lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, transgénero, queer, intersexo, assexuais e outros]have worse health conditions than people outside these groups, namely situations that could have been avoided,” said Lusa, a researcher from the Algarve Biomedical Center and a professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of the Algarve.

The researcher added that this situation, according to the information that exists and is “very scarce”, is mainly due to difficulties in accessing medical care, but added: “It is not that people cannot get there”, but they are afraid of misunderstanding or discrimination in healthcare.

Ana Macedo has worked on this issue in recent years and is leading a project whose main goal is to promote the improvement of the health and equity of people belonging to sexual and gender minorities, which she will present at the “Congresso Saúde Pública 23 – Uma new age”, which takes place in Thursday and Friday in Lisbon.

“We are doing several studies, one of which is with public health professionals,” he said, adding that the researchers are trying to diagnose the situation in Portugal.

The scientists want to try to understand what health care professionals and medical students know about the health of LGBTQIA+ people and, while inside the system, whether they perceive discrimination in healthcare.

Ana Macedo said the study will provide insight into whether healthcare professionals and medical students need more information or education on the topic, as several published reports indicate they have “little knowledge” about the topic because “courses on this The subject is practically not taught.

Major medical schools in Europe and the US have already pushed the topic into curriculum because, he says, “there are aspects that are of particular importance to the health of these people.”

“Everything is not the same, that is, justice is not for equality. We have to perceive differences, and we can only perceive if someone at some point teaches us,” he defended, citing that this lack of knowledge results in professionals having “tremendous difficulties in communicating, because that they restrain themselves, do not ask.

On the other hand, he added, health care users “are also often not shy about revealing themselves because they don’t know what is coming from the other side,” and in other cases there are “more serious situations in which people are clearly discriminated against,” and there is “poor use of language”.

“Sometimes we talk about microaggressions. It’s a slight language error, an assumption of what’s called heteronormativity,” Ana Macedo said, setting the example that when you ask a man how his wife is doing, you don’t think he can be married. to the man: “It’s such a small thing that it’s an aggression to those on the other side, and in many cases the healthcare worker doesn’t even notice.”

However, Ana Macedo noted that cases of deliberate discrimination are “relatively rare”.

According to the researcher, these studies also serve to attract the attention of specialists who, simply by filling out a questionnaire, “are already more sensitive to this issue” because they ask themselves: “I never thought about it.”

After the study is completed, the task is to carry out actions on the ground. “The idea is to be able to do something more general and include health professionals”, in line with the goals of the Directorate General of Health and the European Union, which in its latest plan provides training on this issue for all health professionals in this field .