SW News: The Swedish government has made it clear that it will no longer treat transgender youngsters. Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW) has modified its treatment recommendations for kids who experience gender dysphoria, acknowledging that care has been characterized by both limitations in accessibility and a lack of understanding regarding the consequences of the care.
The board stopped formally administering cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to juveniles in May, but it is now limiting the number of minors who receive mastectomies. The guidelines apply to children and adolescents under 18 years. In the medical text sections, the term children refer to persons who have not yet entered puberty, while the term adolescents refer to people whose puberty has started. The NBHW still considers that gender dysphoria rather than gender identity should determine access to care and treatment.
Thomas Lindén, head of the department at the National Board of Health and Welfare, explained the updated guideline stating that good psychosocial care is a must for children and youth who suffer from gender dysphoria.
For adolescents with gender incongruence, the NBHW deems that the risks of puberty-suppressing treatment with GnRH analogs and gender-affirming hormonal treatment currently outweigh the possible benefits and that the treatments should be offered only in exceptional cases. This judgment is based mainly on three factors: The continued lack of reliable scientific evidence concerning the efficacy and the safety of both treatments, the new knowledge that de-transition occurs among young adults, and the uncertainty that follows from the yet unexplained increase in the number of care seekers, an increase particularly large among adolescents registered as females at birth.
Sweden is one of the nations that have stopped providing care that is gender-affirming since there is not enough data to support its benefit for children. Meanwhile, the Biden administration in the USA is still pushing for the treatment of transgender children.