In a landmark ruling in April 2014, India’s Supreme Court introduced recognition of a third gender and directed that transgender people must have access to the same rights to social welfare schemes as other minority groups in the country.

Now, the State of Gujarat has established a Transgender Welfare Board to increase access to essential services for transgender people, including to health care, housing, education and employment. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment created the board following consultations with the transgender community and community groups, including the Lakshya Trust and Vikalp. UNAIDS and the United Nations Development Programme provided technical support and guidance throughout the process.

The new board aims to improve cross-departmental coordination to improve the delivery and provision of services for the transgender community. The 16-member board will include 8 civil society representatives, including representatives from the third gender community and will be chaired by the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment.

"The new welfare board is a great effort to help in day-to-day issues faced by transgender people. We hope that issues of livelihood, employment, social security and the protection of human rights will be addressed by the board," said Aakriti Patel of the Lakshya Trust.

Part of the board’s work will be to work on the development of an agreed legal definition of who can be designated as transgender.

“UNAIDS looks forward to working with the new Transgender Welfare Board in Gujarat. I applaud the ministry and all partners for the work they have done in helping to create the board, which will greatly improve the lives of the transgender community,” said UNAIDS Country Director for India, Bilali Camara.

UNAIDS will continue to provide support to the board with the development of a policy road map and the roll-out of social protection programmes for transgender people. UNAIDS is also working with the private sector in Gujarat to provide skills training for around 3000 transgender people.

In India, HIV prevalence among transgender people is 3.1%, compared to the national HIV prevalence among all adults of just 0.2%.