Dear Editor,

Everyone is entitled to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health as outlined in the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Access to health care is a very important element when it comes to the right to health.

To fully enjoy this right, people will need to first access health care. This means that health-care facilities should be accessible physically as well as financially and based on non-discrimination. Accessibility also implies the right to seek, receive, and impart health-related information in an accessible format but does not impair the right to have personal health data treated confidentially.

While this is the ideal, LGBT people still face discrimination within and outside of the health sector, which negatively impacts their ability to access health care and, thereby, their right to health.

In 2021 Equality For All Foundation carried out a total of 27 assessments at six treatment sites across Kingston, St Andrew, and St Catherine. Mystery shoppers had generally good experiences at some health facilities, while at others they were split on whether the staff were friendly and non-judgemental. Only some perceived the staff as LGBT-sensitive, while also indicating that LGBT-affirming language was not used. In about 50 per cent of visits shoppers’ sexual orientation was ascertained 13 times.

To make health care more accessible to LGBT Jamaicans, given the challenges they face, medical forms at the health-care facilities should be made more LGBT-inclusive. Additionally, providers should improve the quality of their interactions with LGBT clients by offering risk-reduction counselling, avoiding judgements during sexual risk screenings, and having greater awareness of the needs and experiences of LGBT clients.

Nickoy Wilson

Policy and advocacy manager

Equality For All Foundation

nickoy@equalityjamaica.org