LGBT+ and Cancer in the WHO European Region: Current Situation in 12 Eastern European and Central Asian Countries

Throughout the history of the 12 Eastern European and Central Asian Countries (EECA), three different approaches to addressing diversity and inclusion of the LGBT+ community emerged in the law. These approaches manifested in three different healthcare environments. First, an inclusive environment, which guarantees access to healthcare regardless of patients’ SOGIESC. Second, an indifferent environment, which has neither written laws nor policies that guarantee access to healthcare regardless of patients’ SOGIESC. Third, an exclusionary environment, which has official discriminatory norms that condition biased attitudes of healthcare professionals toward patients because of their SOGIESC. Common to all environments is the historical experience of the 12 EECA countries with the stigmatization of cancer and lack or low levels of cancer education and cancer literacy. This experience adds an extra layer of complexity to research on cancer disparities among the LGBT+ community and development of evidence-based interventions that guarantee LGBT+ community inclusive access to healthcare along the cancer control continuum and development of health systems sufficiently resilient to meeting the challenges of the increasing cancer burden in the WHO European Region.