Grant: Project Grant

Indigenous Two-Spirit and all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questionning, Intersex, Asexual and other sexual and gender minoritized people (2S/LGBTQQIA+) have been overlooked in mainstream sexual and reproductive health research. Systemic oppression exacerbates sexual and reproductive health inequities for 2S/LGBTQQIA+ community members who are Indigenous, Black, or People of Colour; Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary and intersex; disabled; and socioeconomically marginalized. Furthermore, access to sexual and reproductive health care shifted dramatically during COVID-19 and many 2S/LGBTQQIA+ people had less access to sexual and reproductive health care services. Current public health surveillance does not provide knowledge of these issues for 2S/LGBTQQIA+ communities, while existing community-led research on this topic has been local/regional. Our overall goal is to address public health surveillance evidence gaps related to sexual and reproductive health for 2S/LGBTQQIA+ people. We have three research aims: 1) estimate the prevalence of sexual and reproductive health drivers and indicators among 2S/LGBTQQIA+ people across Canada, 2) determine inequities in sexual and reproductive health within 2S/LGBTQQIA+ communities using sex-and-gender-based analysis, and 3) evaluate the impact of our participatory epidemiology methodology within the project. Our project is grounded in principles of community-based research. We will implement a new Canada-wide Our Health survey focused on sexual and reproductive health. We will leverage the Community-Based Research Centre's Investigaytors health leadership program. Our knowledge translation advances open access through dynamic data visualizations and a 2S/LGBTQQIA+ community event. Our study fills knowledge gaps related to limited surveillance information on sexual and reproductive health among 2S/LGBTQQIA+ communities in Canada, and builds research and health leadership capacity amongst these marginalized communities.