Confluent paths: Research and community participation to protect the right to health among transgender women in Peru.

The recognition of transgender women (TGW) as the most vulnerable population to HIV/AIDS in Peru and their inclusion as a specific key affected population in health research was the outcome of an extended process that culminated when TGW community organisations succeeded in articulating themselves as a population separate from men who have sex with men (MSM) and, in alliance with some academic research groups, documented their HIV prevalence and vulnerability factors. Prior to that process, TGW remained subsumed under the epidemiological category of men who have sex with men (MSM), invisible in the context of public health policies. Based on a growing body of academic research evidence, coupled with the increasing number and capacities of TGW representatives in technical and policy-related gatherings, a consensus emerged for the establishment of TGW health statistics separate from MSM by 2010.