On Saturday 25 May, the health agency approved an update to its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11), a manual used globally to diagnose diseases.
The decision to remove transgender identities from the ICD-11’s classification of mental disorders was announced by WHO in June last year.
The update has now been approved via a vote held by the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s governing body which represents the organisation’s 194 member states.
The changes to the health manual will come into effect on 1 January 2022.
The ICD-11 update has re-named “gender identity disorders” to be titled “gender incongruence”.
“Gender incongruence” is now listed under a chapter on “sexual health”, as opposed to “mental disorders”.
The WHO’s decision to no longer classify being transgender as a mental disorder has been hailed by several LGBT+ activists.
“The WHO’s removal of ‘gender identity disorder’ from its diagnostic manual will have a liberating effect on transgender people worldwide,” saidGraeme Reid LGBT+ rights director at Human Rights Watch.
“Governments should swiftly reform national medical systems and laws that require this now officially outdated diagnosis.”
Micah Grzywnowicz, co-chair of the executive board of LGBT+ advocacy group ILGA-Europe, said the update to ICD-11 “represents a monumental shift in the global health for trans and gender diverse people”.
Continue reading here.
[Editor’s Note: This article was written by Sabrina Barr and originally published at the Independent. Title changed by P&P.]
