Access Denied: A qualitative Study on transgender health policy in Egypt.

For this paper, I conducted an interdisciplinary qualitative study to investigate transgender experiences accessing gender-affirming healthcare (GAH) in Egypt. I outline how the current health policy on GAH was developed and its negative impact, celebrating the resilience of transgender people in navigating the hostile anti-transgender environment, and conclude by offering some health policy recommendations to improve the GAH situation. Since 2003, Egypt has introduced an Islamic Sharia-influenced policy that banned accessing GAH for transgender people, placing professional and legal liability on healthcare providers. The policy created an anti-transgender medical environment, forcing transgender people to rely on Do-It-Yourself GAH or underground, risky, ill-equipped, and overpriced medical facilities. Other non-medical factors also impacted transgender people's ability to access GAH: social stigma, family rejection, state persecution, and economic insecurity. Despite this multilayered anti-transgender environment, transgender people proved to be innovative and resilient, creating ways to overcome these challenges and continue to exist. Transgender people created communal spaces online to guide each other in navigating the challenges of accessing GAH and used various means to challenge bans on GAH. Egypt, Gender-Affirming Health Care, Islam, Policy, DIY, Transgender, Law. • Egypt's current health policy bans gender-affirming health care for transgender people. • The health policy pushed transgender people into do-it-yourself hormone therapy and underground medical clinics. • Some challenges accessing GAH include financial instability, social stigma, state prosecution, and lack of GAH services. • Transgender people proved innovative and resilient as they mitigated these challenges by relying on communal support. • New possible avenues for reforming the current policy, such as strategic litigation, are being explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]