WPATH Standards for Providing Gender Reassignment Care
Abstract
WPATH recommends that gender-affirming care for adolescents be provided in a safe and ethical manner, taking into account their physical, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as the potential reproductive effects of treatment.
The World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) recommends the following standards for providing gender-affirming medical or surgical treatments requested by an adolescent patient:
The adolescent meets the diagnostic criteria of gender incongruence as per the ICD-11 in situations where a diagnosis is necessary to access health care. In countries that have not implemented the latest ICD, other taxonomies may be used although efforts should be undertaken to utilize the latest ICD as soon as practicable.
The experience of gender diversity/incongruence must be marked and sustained over time.
The adolescent demonstrates the emotional and cognitive maturity required to provide informed consent/assent for the treatment.
The adolescent’s mental health concerns (if any) that may interfere with diagnostic clarity, capacity to consent, and gender-affirming medical treatments have been addressed.
The adolescent has been informed of the reproductive effects, including the potential loss of fertility and the available options to preserve fertility, and these have been discussed in the context of the adolescent’s stage of pubertal development.
The adolescent has reached Tanner stage 2 of puberty for pubertal suppression to be initiated. Stage 2 is defined as the beginning of puberty- related physical changes. ■
