Chicago, IL -
A new report on women's health shows lesbians are at greater risk of heart disease than other females.
The study cites a number of factors including obesity, smoking, and lack of exercise all prevalent in the lesbian community, according to the authors. Stress is also a major risk factor for women, and lesbians bear the added stress of anti-gay discrimination.
There are also many barriers - including lack of health insurance, provider ignorance and institutionalized homophobia - that keep lesbians from receiving fair and equal access to quality healthcare. In addition, the lack of specific health education programs targeted specifically to lesbians hinders lesbians seeking appropriate medical advice.
"Most mainstream health interventions do not use media, messages or messengers that are effective in reaching the lesbian community, especially those of us who identify as butch or androgynous," said Kathleen DeBold of the Mautner Project for Lesbian Health which conducted the study.
"Although the federal government increasingly recognized the health needs of lesbians and gays in the 1990's, since the 2000 election there has been a definite backward shift," said DeBold.
In 1999, The Institute of Medicine released a report, Lesbian Health: Current Assessment and Directions for the Future, that clearly documented the healthcare disparities affecting lesbians. Health and Human Service's (HHS) blueprint for the nation's health, Healthy People 2010, released in 2000, includes sexual orientation as a marker of health disparities.
In contrast, The National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report, both issued last month by the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, do not mention the health of lesbians or gays.
"We are being treated as 'the underserved population that dare not speak its name,' commented DeBold.
Although grassroots health groups have made great strides in developing lesbian-specific health programs, their efforts are limited by insufficient funding DeBold said.
by Beth Shapiro
365Gay.com Newscenter
New York Bureau
©365Gay.com® 2004
The study cites a number of factors including obesity, smoking, and lack of exercise all prevalent in the lesbian community, according to the authors. Stress is also a major risk factor for women, and lesbians bear the added stress of anti-gay discrimination.
There are also many barriers - including lack of health insurance, provider ignorance and institutionalized homophobia - that keep lesbians from receiving fair and equal access to quality healthcare. In addition, the lack of specific health education programs targeted specifically to lesbians hinders lesbians seeking appropriate medical advice.
"Most mainstream health interventions do not use media, messages or messengers that are effective in reaching the lesbian community, especially those of us who identify as butch or androgynous," said Kathleen DeBold of the Mautner Project for Lesbian Health which conducted the study.
"Although the federal government increasingly recognized the health needs of lesbians and gays in the 1990's, since the 2000 election there has been a definite backward shift," said DeBold.
In 1999, The Institute of Medicine released a report, Lesbian Health: Current Assessment and Directions for the Future, that clearly documented the healthcare disparities affecting lesbians. Health and Human Service's (HHS) blueprint for the nation's health, Healthy People 2010, released in 2000, includes sexual orientation as a marker of health disparities.
In contrast, The National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report, both issued last month by the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, do not mention the health of lesbians or gays.
"We are being treated as 'the underserved population that dare not speak its name,' commented DeBold.
Although grassroots health groups have made great strides in developing lesbian-specific health programs, their efforts are limited by insufficient funding DeBold said.
by Beth Shapiro
365Gay.com Newscenter
New York Bureau
©365Gay.com® 2004
This article originally appeared on 365gay.com. Republished with permission.
