Reimagining Kinnars (Hijras) as Health Workers for Reproductive & Sexual Health

Supreme court struck down section 377 a couple of days back. India is moving forward in the right direction. There is still a lot of work left to do.

We see kinnars (hijras) working on roads asking people for money. They are "strange" humans in other people's mind and when people look at them all that comes to their mind is their gender issues and sexual connotations of those.

This strangeness might be the reason why people are unwilling to give them jobs. Could we turn this around?

Reproductive and sexual health is a topic that is absolutely neglected in our education system. There is plenty of embarrassment in discussing topics related to sex as well.

What if, then, we put them both together? What if we empower kinnars by giving them training and other resources required, to go into the community and work for reproductive and sexual health? Like ASHA workers they would promote health. They can even distribute interventions like condoms.

This is a positive change in many ways:

• The kinnars themselves gain a better understanding of health
• This can become an income generating opportunity for them
• The perceptions about transgender community can slowly be changed to a positive one
• Otherwise hard to reach strata of society can be reached