ACCESS TO HEALTH BY THE TRANSSEXUAL POPULATION IN BRAZIL: BETWEEN THE LINES OF THE INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

The article presents a mapping of the scientific production regarding the access to health by the transsexual population after 2008, an important year for trans health in Brazil, in which the Transsexualizing Process of the Brazilian Unified Health System (Processo Transexualizador do Sistema Único de Saúde, in Portuguese) was created. The goal of the present work was to conduct an integrative review of the literature regarding the access to health by the Brazilian transsexual and transvestite population in the MEDLINE, LILACS and SciELO databases, using the following descriptors: ‘transsexuality,’ ‘transsexualism,’ ‘transvestitism,’ ‘transvestite’ and ‘transgendered,’ and 22 articles were selected. Considering the scientific production analyzed, we verified countless challenges regarding the access of the trans population to the Brazilian Unified Health System, such as discrimination, pathologization of transsexuality, lack of training on the part of the professionals, improper embracement, lack of resources to fund policies and programs geared towards the fight against discrimination due to homophobia or tans/transvestite-phobia, as well as the lack of guarantee of specific services – such as the transsexualizing process.

integrative review; access to health; transvestite; transsexual