Social relationships of travestis and transgender women from a favela in a Brazilian metropolitan city according to an ecomap

Abstract

Introduction: The World Health Organization has been working with the premise of equity with universal respect for human dignity, making a commitment to “leave no one behind,” and for this reason, it directs special attention to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex population. The transgender population is especially affected by several social stigmas that impact their health and illness processes.  Understanding Primary Health Care as an essential space for guaranteeing the rights of this population, Health Centers must intensify efforts to welcome these people, and an important step may be to understand their family relationship and community insertion. Objective: To assist in raising visibility of the representations that travestis and transgender women seen at a Health Center have about their social relationships. Methods: Travestis and transgender women living in a community assisted by the Health Center were interviewed. In-depth interviews were conducted with the elaboration of the ecomap, which were systematized with the participants and later sent for their approval. The individual ecomaps were synthesized in a single ecomap. Results: All five travestis and transgender women residing in the area were interviewed. The average age was 27.5 years.  As for self-reported ethinicity/skin color, one is white, two are mixed-race, and two are black. Two of them were formally employed and three were unemployed. Regarding level of education, four of the interviewees held a high school degree and one had some elementary school. For most travestis and transgender women in this community, family support is noteworthy. Concerning social protection equipment, the most cited were the Public Defender’s Office, a Nongovernmental Organization, and the Social Assistance Reference Center. All participants are followed up at the Health Center, and one reported being absent for having no demands. The Candomblé religion also consisted in a support factor for two of the interviewees. The greatest difficulty was in relation to employability, with the report of transphobia situations. One of the interviewees identified that she has a problem related to drug addiction. Conclusions: There is still much to improve in public policies that promote equity and health for travestis and transgender women, especially in guaranteeing health care, incentives for employability, and combating transphobia. Nevertheless, women in the studied community and their families indicate how welcoming and support can be differentiating factors in these life trajectories.