In humanitarian settings, health clusters exist to save lives and prevent, reduce and relieve suffering while working to promote the dignity of crisis-affected populations. This includes providing healthcare to crisis-affected people—including people with diverse SOGIESC. Health, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is one of the better-researched areas in respect to people with diverse SOGIESC as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and on writings on intersex people. Despite the more substantial body of knowledge on health for people with diverse SOGIESC than other cluster areas, there continue to be significant gaps in healthcare provision for people with diverse SOGIESC in humanitarian settings.
Health in humanitarian settings is a combination of technical knowledge and guidance, and availability of appropriate services. For people with diverse SOGIESC, accessing services that meet their unique needs can be impossible in humanitarian settings. For instance, intersex people may not have access to dignified and appropriate sexual and reproductive healthcare while trans women and trans men may not be able to access the hormone replacement therapy they require. Discrimination in the healthcare sector continues to be a significant challenge for people with diverse SOGIESC, especially in humanitarian settings.
The resources available in this category cover an array of topics including: the challenges of accessing appropriate and dignified health services for people with diverse SOGIESC; the importance of appropriate technical training and knowledge for health providers; and considerations for humanitarian practitioners around health issues for people with diverse SOGIESC in humanitarian settings.
These resources have been compiled to enable humanitarian practitioners—especially health cluster experts and coordinators—to better understand and meet the needs of people with diverse SOGIESC.
