Lesbians and bisexuals in the Ecuadorian health system. guarantee of the right to health without violence: guarantee of the right to health without violence

Abstract

One of the main problems that affects lesbian and bisexual women is violence, family and social rejection that often leads to invisibility or concealment of a part of the human being, such as sexual orientation. Within the field of health, such concealment when it goes to medical care can also react to the factor of discrimination, since the behaviors and attitudes of health personnel can reach extreme cases of lesbophobic violence, for example, through abuse during gyneco-obstetric procedures. That said, through the use of quantitative and qualitative methodology, research is carried out on the perceptions that the indicated population has about the public health service in a sample of 75 women; as well as the impressions of a group of 7 health actors working within the Public Health System at the “Las Casas” center in Quito, which is part of the pilot program of inclusive centers of the Ministry of Public Health. The most relevant results show that 72% of the participants have negative perceptions about the Health System, characterizing it mainly with insufficient information and a place where they suffer discriminatory treatment. In addition, it realizes the importance of improving the tools for addressing gyneco-obstetric information for lesbian and bisexual women, as well as the importance of mental health as an axis to be considered within the practices of health workers that contribute to the prevention and eradication of violence, in order not to symbolically or materially exclude the existence of lesbian and bisexual women.