ABSTRACT
In recent years, the public health community has devoted more attention to improving global lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) health, and has made considerable headway particularly around HIV prevention and care as it relates to men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women. This chapter provides an overview of global LGBT health, and includes a case study as well as tools that global health practitioners can leverage in the future. LGBT populations share a history of stigma and discrimination, which often leads to a common set of health inequities. Research shows that LGBT persons, when compared to their heterosexual counterparts, have a higher risk of depression, suicide, substance abuse, and non-communicable diseases like cancer, obesity and hypertension. They are also at higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and relevant co-infections with diseases like tuberculosis.
