Population size estimation of transgender women and men in Bhutan

Abstract

Introduction Transgender persons experience health disparities and are marginalized in many societies worldwide. Even their numbers are unknown in many countries. We conducted the first effort to estimate the population size of transgender women (TGW) and transgender men (TGM) in Bhutan from November 2019 to January 2020. Methods Community-based surveys of TGW and TGM integrated several methods to estimate the size of hidden populations, including key informant mapping, wisdom-of-the-crowd, the service multiplier, and the unique object multiplier. Results of the several methods were synthesized using a Bayesian approach. Results Surveys included 34 TGW and 124 TGM. TGW was persons assigned to the male sex at birth and currently self-identified as “trans women” (91%), “women” (6%), or another gender (3%). TGM were persons assigned female sex at birth and self-identified as “trans men” (100%). Bayesian synthesis of the multiple methods estimated 84 TGW (credible interval 61–110) and 166 TGM (credible interval 124–211) in Bhutan. Conclusions Our study documented that TGW and TGM are part of Bhutanese society, with TGW constituting 0.03% of adult women and TGM 0.06% of adult men. Estimates can help advocate for resources and programs to address the health and well-being of these communities.

Stigma and discrimination against transgender men in Bhutan

“…Moreover, recruitment included hybrid methods that helped further diversify the sample by reaching trans men who are less visible (i.e., through peer referral) as well as those who may be less connected to peers (i.e., through online and physical venues). Although the sample size is small, 124 participants, it should be noted that this is estimated to constitute a large proportion of the reachable transgender population estimated at 0.06% of adult men in Bhutan [ 14 ]. Finally, we also note that our survey is one of the largest of trans men to date.…”

“…Details of the sampling and recruitment have been previously described [ 14 ] and are summarized here. First, community outreach workers recruited eligible trans men in their social networks to participate and instructed them to refer other eligible trans men from their networks.…”

Fatores associados ao acesso à Atenção Primária à Saúde por travestis e mulheres trans do Rio de Janeiro

“…Esta lacuna pode ser parcialmente atribuída às dificuldades metodológicas de recrutamento das travestis e mulheres trans, consideradas conceitualmente, do ponto de vista metodológico, como um grupo de difícil acesso (KHANDU et al, 2022). Ademais, a atribuição de estigmas, a alarmante prevalência de violências sofridas e à negligência tanto de formuladores de políticas públicas quanto de acadêmicos podem conformar outros limitadores para as investigações (DE VILLIERS et al, 2020;PEIXOTO et al, 2022;RAFAEL et al, 2021RAFAEL et al, , 2023a.…”