Condiciones de vida y salud en: Gays, lesbianas, bisexuales, transgénero, transexuales, travestis e intersexual. Ecuador

Abstract

Background: LGBTI refers to a community of self-identified individuals: Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender, Transvestites, and Intersex, becoming a vulnerable group concerning access to education, work, health, and housing, in addition to the violence that this community faces. Objective: To establish the living and health conditions of a sample of the LGBTI population. Methodology: A quantitative, observational, descriptive study was conducted using publicly available secondary data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC by its Spanish acronym) applied in the Ecuadorian provinces of El Oro, Guayas, Imbabura, Los Ríos, Manabí, Pichincha and Santa Elena, where 2798 survey respondents were the unit of analysis. The data gathered from the INEC registry were entered into an Excel spreadsheet to tabulate the 53 variables of interest, which were later imported into the SPSS statistical software. Results: Median age was 27 years, with participants predominantly from the province of Pichincha (38.3%), unmarried (77.0%), with a higher or university education level (40.5%), identifying as gay (29.1%), transgender female (28.5%), engaging in sex work (15.9%), living alone (21.4%), having children (10.5%), experiencing physical violence (1.3%), having suicidal thoughts (23.7%), expressing dissatisfaction with the care provided in health facilities (2.4%), experiencing discrimination (4.5%), and 30.5% not using protection during sexual intercourse. Conclusion: The living conditions and health of individuals in the LGBTI community demonstrate high levels of discrimination, particularly in physical and mental health, underscoring the importance of generating strategies aimed at the social acceptance of the group.