March 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 3
Gay, lesbian issues to be in Healthy People 2010 initiative
It took more than two years of spirited negotiating, but after the dust had settled, a national coalition including the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association had won the incorporation of sexual orientation into 29 health objectives in the HHS document, Healthy People 2010.
According to AAFP member Ronald Falcon, M.D., of Minneapolis, the coalition's victory is a watershed event in promoting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. For the first time, improved data collection and analysis of issues pertaining to LGBT populations will be goals of the federal government.
"There's never been inclusion of LGBT issues -- health measures and so forth -- in the Healthy People documents," said Falcon, who sits on the GLMA Board of Directors. "We decided it was time to get that changed."
HP 2010 represents America's public health blueprint for this decade. The document details the nation's plan to eliminate health disparities across geographic, ethnic, racial, gender, age and -- now -- sexual orientation lines. Such differences include variations in pediatric immunization rates in urban versus rural settings and varying access to high-quality health care services based on racial or ethnic factors.
The tide turned, apparently, when the Health Resources and Services Administration threw its support behind a collaborative effort to develop the paper, "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health: Findings and Concerns." This document summarizes research on LGBT issues and outlines the need for further data collection. Go to http://www.glma.org/policy/whitepaper to access the paper, developed by the National Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health (including GLMA) and the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health at Columbia University in New York.
HRSA also provided funding for the Healthy People 2010 Companion Document for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Populations, which is under final review and is scheduled for publication this spring.
This report discusses about 130 health objectives from 17 focus areas in the federal HP 2010 document that are most relevant to LGBT health. For each objective, the companion document discusses such topics as model programs and resources and makes recommendations regarding research and education needs, services and policy development.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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