Hormone Consumption Pattern In Hijra Community In India

The Hijra community in India is well known throughout the country, with different names across the different regions. The Hijra community undergoes a lot of turmoil for their existence. The lack of doctors performing gender reassignment surgeries or therapies is a worldwide phenomenon, which eventually pushes the transgender towards self-prescription of hormones. In Hijra community the non –prescribed hormone users are at high risk of health problems resulting from improper dosing and a lack of monitoring. One of the major reasons for self-prescription is non availability of health care system like gender transition clinics or support system in India. Methodology: a descriptive cross sectional research design was implemented to achieve the framed objectives. Quantitative approach was used to gather information regarding their general demographic profile, extent of hormone use within the community, to ascertain their knowledge attitude and practices associated with use of hormones. Results: 84.4% of the respondents reported that they knew about feminization procedures, 10% said no and 3.7% said they did not know. The respondents were asked if they know hormones can bring about any physical change to which 95.6% reported yes and 04% said no. The 58 respondents who are either consuming hormones now or had a history of hormone consumption, 37.8% of them take hormones in form of injections, 13.3% in form of injections and OCP, 7.8% in form of injections and tablets, 2.2% in form of tablets, 1.1% in form of OCP, 1.1% in form of creams and the last 1.1% in form of cream and tablets. Conclusion: The community is completely relying on informal networks such as quacks and dealers in fulfilling their needs for feminization and aiding these procedures, which not only puts their life at stake for developing chronic irreversible conditions but also can lead to death