It is in the presence of the State Councilor for Health of the Canton of Vaud Rebecca Ruiz, the Municipal Councilor of the city of Lausanne Pierre-Antoine Hildbrand, and the National Councilor Léonore Porchet, that the Vaud associations Les Klamydia's, VoGay and Lilith presented on November 24, 2020 the results of the 2019 survey on the health of women who have sex with women (FSF).

The online conference began with political speeches by the three representatives of the political world and continued with the presentation of the results of the FSF 2019 Health survey as well as a panel discussion in which experts from FSF issues.

The survey looked at general, sexual and mental health, as well as sexual violence, and made several alarming findings:

28% of respondents do not have a gynecologist and are not followed for their sexual health
More than a third have been discriminated against or inadequately cared for at least once because of their sexual orientation / gender identity
61% say they never protect themselves during sex with casual partners and 46% do not know the means of protection or do not know how to use them
Respondents use more tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and psychotropic drugs than the general female population
More than half (54%) of respondents have ever had suicidal thoughts and less than a third (30%) consulted a professional to talk about it
More than 2/3 have already experienced sexual violence and only 8% have used a service specializing in violence

Attached is the preliminary report presenting the results of the 2019 FSF Health Survey. The recording of the November 24th Conference must be edited and will be released in the coming weeks to promote the results. of the FSF Health survey .

Preliminary investigation report

Some quotes from the Digital Conference:

State Councilor Rebecca Ruiz and Municipal Councilor Pierre Antoine Hildbrand recalled the need to act on the part of public authorities and confirmed the support of their respective departments on these Questions.

For State Councilor Rebecca Ruiz, this survey is both: “innovative and necessary” insofar as it is “crucial to produce more data that takes into account gender identity and sexual orientation for better know the needs in the field of health and prevention ”and all the more so since there are“ significant differences in health between the FSF and the rest of the population ”. She specifies that: “substantive work is still necessary to improve certain health, medical and preventive care”.

Municipal Councilor Pierre Antoine Hildbrand, for his part, underlined how much it is: “essential to act for the well-being and health of FSF” and that this is a “vital issue”, particularly in link to the results of the suicidal thoughts survey. These results: “reinforce the Municipality in its willingness to get involved, at its level of competence and in partnership, to fight against discrimination.”

For the National Councilor Léonore Porchet: “Much remains to be done, particularly in sexual health insofar as the medical system remains very sexist” and “the role of communities must be stronger in this area”. She recalls that the allies of LGBTIQ + people also have a role to play in combating discrimination.

The representatives of the political world praised the importance of the work of associations as well as of this type of survey to improve prevention and access to health care. National Councilor Léonore Porchet, who moderated the panel of experts as president of SANTE SEXUELLE Suisse, underlined the importance of the commitment of politicians to issues of sexual health and violence. , both for FSF and for women in general.

According to Camille Béziane, head of the Klamydias association: “This survey measures the distance to be covered both in terms of raising awareness among FSFs and the training of health and violence professionals. It confirms the need for the work of all associations in the field. The participation of political representatives in this Conference is a strong signal and bodes well for a stronger commitment to FSF in the future ”. Nicole Marty, president of the Lilith association and Mehdi Künzle, president of the VoGay association, recall how many factors explain the worrying findings of the survey are multiple and interconnected and to what extent the health of FSF should not be based only on the people concerned but constitutes a public health issue.