ASIAN RACISM & XENOPHOBIA
'If you're black you can't go out': Africans in China face racism in Covid-19 crackdown

Issued on: 11/04/2020

This file photo taken on March 2, 2018 shows people gathering on a street in the "Little Africa" district in Guangzhou, the capital of southern China's Guangdong province. © Fred Dufour / AFP

Text by:FRANCE 24

Africans in southern China's largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as the country steps up its fight against imported infections.

China says it has largely curbed its Covid-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials.

Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city's Yuexiu district, known as "Little Africa".

Five were Nigerian nationals who faced widespread anger after reports surfaced that they had broken a mandatory quarantine and been to eight restaurants and other public places instead of staying home.

As a result, nearly 2,000 people they came into contact with had to be tested for Covid-19 or undergo quarantine, state media said.

Guangzhou had confirmed 114 imported coronavirus cases as of Thursday – 16 of which were Africans. The rest were returning Chinese nationals.

It has led to Africans becoming targets of suspicion, distrust and racism in China.

Several Africans told AFP they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and turned away by hotels.

"I've been sleeping under the bridge for four days with no food to eat... I cannot buy food anywhere, no shops or restaurants will serve me," said Tony Mathias, an exchange student from Uganda who was forced from his apartment on Monday.

"We're like beggars on the street," the 24-year-old said.

Mathias added that police had given him no information about testing or quarantine but instead told him "to go to another city".

Police in Guangzhou declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

A Nigerian businessman said he was evicted from his apartment earlier this week.

"Everywhere the police see us, they will come and pursue us and tell us to go home. But where can we go?" he said.

Growing tensions

Other Africans said the community had been subject to mass Covid-19 testing even though many had not left China recently, and placed under arbitrary quarantine at home or in hotels.

China has banned foreign nationals from entering the country and many travellers are being sent into 14-day quarantines either in their own accommodation or at centralised facilities.

Thiam, an exchange student from Guinea, said police ordered him to stay home on Tuesday even after he tested negative for Covid-19 and told officers he had not left China in almost four years.

He believes the measures are specifically and unfairly targeting Africans.

"All the people I've seen tested are Africans. Chinese are walking around freely but if you're black you can't go out," he said.

The US State Department on Saturday issued an alert advising African Americans, or those with potential contact with African nationals, to avoid Guangzhou.

Denny, a Nigerian trader evicted from his flat on Tuesday, said police moved him to a hotel for quarantine after he spent several days sleeping on the streets.

"Even if we have a negative test result, police don't let us stay (in our accommodation) and they don't give a reason why," he said.

'Crazy fear'

The infections in Guangzhou have sparked a torrent of abuse online, with many Chinese internet users posting racist comments and calling for all Africans to be deported.

Last week a controversial cartoon depicting foreigners as different types of trash to be sorted through went viral on social media.

"There's just this crazy fear that anybody who's African might have been in contact with somebody who was sick," said David, a Canadian living in Guangzhou who did not want to give his full name.

China's foreign ministry acknowledged this week that there had been some "misunderstandings" with the African community.

"I want to emphasise that the Chinese government treats all foreigners in China equally," said spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday, urging local officials to "improve their working mechanisms".

Separately, in an unusually open critique, the speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives tweeted a video of himself pressing the Chinese ambassador on the issue.

Today I met with the Chinese🇨🇳 Ambassador to Nigeria on the disturbing allegation of ill treatment of Nigerian citizens in China. I showed him the video clip that had made the rounds. He promised to look into it and get back to my office on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/9SUxH0rI7X— Femi Gbajabiamila (@femigbaja) April 10, 2020

“It’s almost undiplomatic the way I’m talking, but it’s because I’m upset about what’s going on,” Femi Gbajabiamila says.

“We take it very seriously,” Ambassador Zhou Pingjian replies.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said he summoned the ambassador to express “extreme concern” and call for an immediate government response.

The complaints in Guangzhou contrast with a welcome reception to Chinese efforts in battling the coronavirus across the African continent, where Beijing this week donated medical supplies to 18 countries.

"When China engages Africa it's the central government that does that, but when it comes to immigration enforcement that happens at the local level," said Eric Olander, managing editor of the China Africa Project.

"That explains why there's an inconsistency in the more upbeat messaging we hear about Chinese diplomacy on the continent and the increasingly difficult realities that African traders, students and other expatriates face in their day-to-day lives in China."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

Future of Wuhan’s ‘wet’ markets uncertain as Covid-19 fears remain

Issued on: 12/04/2020

A resident pays for groceries by standing on a tree stump to peer over barriers set up to ring-fence a wet market on a street in Wuhan, China on April 1, 2020. © Aly Song, Reuters

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Fish and vegetable merchants are reopening stalls at wet markets in China's central city of Wuhan as it lifts a months-long lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic, but their future looks uncertain with few customers as the virus stigma persists.


The virus, which has infected 1.6 million people and killed 106,000 in 214 countries, is believed to have originated late last year among wild animals on sale in a seafood market in Wuhan that has been closed and boarded up since January.

That has prompted heavy scrutiny for wet markets, a key facet of China's daily life, even though only a few sell wildlife. Some U.S. officials have called for them, and others across Asia, to be closed.

"This is a person-to-person virus, no matter where you are," said Jin Qinzhi, a vegetable and meat vendor at a wet market, when asked what she thought about demands for their closure.

"Even the supermarket is full of people. Here people are more scattered. As long as we take precautionary measures, and we pay attention to disinfecting, it should be fine.”

A common sight across Asia, wet markets traditionally sell fresh produce and live animals, such as fish, in the open air. They tend to be popular with shoppers who believe the items on sale are cheaper and fresher than in supermarkets.

'Everyone is scared'

Stall owners in Wuhan said they were not optimistic after their business was badly hurt by the strict shutdowns in China, which ordered a temporary ban on trade and consumption of wildlife in January.

"There is no business and no one is coming," said a worker chopping fish who only gave her surname, Zhang. "Everywhere is blocked and people cannot come in. Everyone is scared to go out and contract the virus.”

Wuhan will spend 200 million yuan ($28 million) to upgrade its 425 farmers' markets, in a campaign to improve hygiene, city officials said on Friday. Still, some worry they may not stay around long enough to see it.

"We don't have any income and business," said Jin. "If it goes on like this, it will be very difficult for us to survive."

Many stores remain shut and some curbs continue, even though a sharp drop in new local cases prompted lifting of the lockdown.

China reported 99 new virus infections on Saturday, taking its tally to 82,052, with a death toll of 3,339. Globally, the virus has reached 214 countries.

(REUTERS)

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY
German arms sale approvals jump slightly in first quarter of 2020

The first-quarter increase comes on the heels of a record annual German arms sales in 2019. Sales to third world countries nearly tripled, including to countries involved in the Yemeni Civil War.



German arms sale approvals increased slightly in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year, the nation's Economy Ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry, responding to a formal question by the Left Party (die Linke), said the government approved arms exports worth €1.16 billion ($1.27 billion) in the first three months of 2020, a €43.5 million increase from the same period in 2019.

Government-approved arms sales hit a record high in 2019, totaling €7.95 billion. Sales had declined the previous three years after a previous record of €7.86 billion in exports in 2015.

The Left Party, probably the most critical of Germany's arms export policies, condemned the increase in arms sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"While the UN is calling for a global ceasefire to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the German government continues to pour oil on the fire with its war weapons in crisis areas," die Linke's disarmament specialist Sevim Dagdelen said in response to the figures. "We need an immediate halt to arms exports and convert the defense industry to make civilian goods such as medical equipment. It is time to produce for life instead of death."


CHINESE SOLDIERS TRAIN FOR EPIDEMIC IN BAVARIA
Special delivery

This Chinese armored medical evacuation vehicle arrived by ship at the port in Hamburg, before being shipped to southern Germany and the Bavarian town of Feldkirchen. A total of 92 Chinese and 120 German soldiers are taking part in the Combined Aid 2019 exercise, along with 120 men and women in supporting roles.

Controversial sale to Egypt

Though sales to EU and NATO countries declined slightly, sales to non-NATO and non-EU members nearly tripled from €134 million in the first quarter of 2019 to €360 million in the first three months of 2020.

The Economy Ministry said the increase was due to a deal struck with Egypt involving a frigate and a submarine. At €290 million in sales, Egypt's nominally civilian government led by the former head of the army was by far the largest arms buyer from Germany in the first quarter of this year.

The deal with the African nation was finalized despite Germany affirming in 2018 that it would not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Yemen, a conflict that has killed over 100,000 people. This resolution followed sharp criticism of a series of high-profile sales to Saudi Arabia, which is leading the international coalition attacking Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Egypt recently dispatched warships to assist with a Saudi-led naval blockade of Yemen.

Since early 2019, German arms manufacturers have sold over €1 billion worth of weapons to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries part of the Saudi-backed coalition in Yemen.

Dagdelen told DW earlier this month that Germany's pledge to not provide arms to countries involved in the conflict in Yemen was "nothing but hot air."

"The UAE and Saudi Arabia are to blame for the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of our times," she said. She has called for Germany to halt exports to the UAE immediately.

Coronavirus: German lawmaker calls for delay to EU climate targets

The COVID-19 pandemic's effects are expected to cause a deep recession in Europe and elsewhere. A key German politician thinks the EU’s climate targets should be deferred in the face of the potential economic crisis.


AU CONTRAIRE THIS IS EXACTLY THE TIME TO DEAL WITH CLIMATE CHANG DEMANDING THE TRANSITION FROM CAPITALISM TO SOCIALISM

The coronavirus crisis calls for an urgent review of Germany's climate targets under goals set by the European Union, the leader of the economic council of the conservative Christian Democrat party (CDU) said on Saturday.

The COVID-19 pandemic is "putting the German economy to the test," and the EU should consider a "deferment of climate policy targets," Wolfgang Steiger said in comments published in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Steiger said the fallout from the pandemic on the economy could amount to a new "de-industrialization" of Germany. Experts are predicting a global recession as a result of the business shutdown and subsequent layoffs.

Germany has offered financial aid for many businesses and individuals affected by lockdowns and social distancing measures. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government pledged €750 billion in emergency aid funding in March to prop up the economy. Small companies and freelancers are eligible for up to €15,000 in direct subsidies, while larger companies can be stabilized with larger capital funds.

Despite the huge stimulus, Steiger told the paper the German economy could, for now, do without the financial burden of climate change goals.

Read more: Corona stimulus plans overlook 'historic' chance for climate crisis

Could the crisis help sustainability policy?

However, Germany's environment minister, Svenja Schulze, warned against "connecting climate protection and economic prosperity." It may be possible "to use the exit from the corona crisis to promote climate-compatible and sustainable economic structures," she said.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Morgan of the environmental activist group Greenpeace is among those who believe the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the weaknesses of the global economic system.

"We are being offered the chance to fundamentally change how things work," said Morgan of the shutdown brought about by the health emergency.

With flights grounded, some manufacturing limited and a reduction in commuting, global lockdowns may offer some temporary reprieve for global environmental problems like air pollution.

Read more: NGOs fear COP26 postponement could scuttle climate change policy

What are EU climate targets?

The EU's ambitious 2030 climate goals include a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and at least a 32% market share for renewable energy. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged that a large amount of the bloc's budget would go towards achieving the EU Green Deal.

On Thursday, EU finance ministers agreed to free up half a trillion euros to help limit the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected more investment may be needed in the coming months, depending on how long lockdowns continue.

In a meeting on March 26, EU leaders invited the commission to start working on a comprehensive coronavirus recovery plan, incorporating green transition.

5G protesters sabotage Dutch phone towers

Opponents of the rollout of a new 5G data network have damaged and set alight several towers in the Netherlands. Activists have expressed concerns over possible health risks and privacy violations.


Protesters targeted a number of cellular broadcasting towers throughout the Netherlands to oppose the new 5G telecommunications network, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Saturday.

Towers in Rotterdam, Liessel, Beesd and Nuenen were severely damaged by fire, Rob Bongelaar told the newspaper. Bongelaar is director of The Monet Foundation, an association that oversees the placement of cell towers and coordinates with state governments on behalf of network operators including KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

"The operators are doing their utmost to keep the mobile networks up and running in this difficult time," Bongelaar added. He said that the words, "F*** 5G" were written on the transmission box at one of the attack sites.

Read more: What does 5G have to do with coronavirus? Where did it come from? Your questions answered

'Desperately needed' for hospitals

"The availability of a reliable digital infrastructure is essential. The connections are desperately needed for hospitals and care homes … and then there are those who deliberately set radio masts on fire. Incomprehensible and unacceptable," Bongelaar said.

De Telegraaf also reported a possible arson incident on Friday evening in the northern city of Groningen.

In a statement, the Dutch government's Security and Counter-Terrorism (NCTV) announced it had registered "various incidents" around broadcasting antennas in the past week, including arson and sabotage, adding that opposition to the 5G plan is a possible cause.

"This is a concerning development," NCTV said. The body added that similar attacks have been occurring recently in the UK.

Read more: EU rules out Huawei ban — but maps out strict rules on 5G

Health and privacy concerns

Various groups in the Netherlands have been opposed to the 5G network for some time, largely due to health concerns such as radio waves that could potentially be harmful to human health. Others say that the network could violate privacy rights.

In January, around a hundred people rallied against the 5G network at Amsterdam's Dam Square, calling for its rejection on the basis of health and wellbeing.

As the major telecommunications providers in the country await a June spectrum auction before it can commence a nationwide rollout of 5G telecommunications, a testing phase is currently in place.

Nazi death camp Buchenwald quietly marks 75 years since liberation

Only employees of Buchenwald's memorial site attended the anniversary event due to Germany's coronavirus lockdown measures. Authorities called out increasing right-wing extremism in a "Thuringian declaration.

75th anniversary of Buchenwald death camp liberation


With the coronavirus lockdown still in force across Germany, authorities in the state of Thuringia were forced to cancel multiple commemoration events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Instead of survivors meeting at the site, only employees of the camp's present-day museum marked the occasion by laying wreaths at the memorial on Saturday.

Around 56,000 people were killed at Buchenwald and the nearby satellite installation Dora before it was freed by US soldiers in April 1945.

Leaders, surviviors unite against far right

On Saturday, authorities published the "Thuringian Declaration," describing it as a centerpiece of this year's memorial events and urging members of the public to sign it. The document was initially signed by top officials including Thuringian State Premier Bodo Ramelow and the Buchenwald memorial site head Volkhard Knigge, as well Buchenwald survivors Ivan Ivanji, Eva Fahidi-Pusztei and Naftali Fürst.

"We know and seriously appreciate that Germany did not free itself from National Socialism by dint of its own efforts; that a large number of crimes went unpunished; and that too many perpetrators and criminals could continue their lives after 1945 as though nothing had happened," the declaration states.

Individual visitors have come to the gates of Buchenwald to pay their respects, but the camp remains closed as part of Germany's COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures

Yesterday's 'poisons' touted as 'universal remedy'

The signatories warn that today "right-wing radicalism and authoritarianism are on the rise, as are a form of populism emboldened by a racially motivated superiority complex, nationalism."

"Racism and anti-Semitism are openly propagated and have led to acts of violence in Germany that would have been inconceivable even several years ago," the document reads, adding that "yesterday's destructive poisons are once again being touted as a universal remedy for society's ills."

Germany has seen several deadly right-wing attacks in recent years, including the racist killing spree in February in Hanau, in which a far-right gunman killed nine people in two shisha bars, and an attempted mass shooting at a synagogue in Halle last October on Judaism's holiest day. In January, it was reported that groups of neo-Nazis have been disrupting the tours in Buchenwald, and a package with explosive materials was found at the site.

Read more: Germany and the new dimension of right-wing terrorism

State premier targets far-right AfD party's rhetoric

In a separate video address, Thuringian State Premier Ramelow slammed those who seek to downplay the Nazi era with a direct reference to a statement made by Alexander Gauland from the right-wing populist AfD party. In 2018, Gauland characterized the Nazi era and the Holocaust as "only a bird shit on over 1,000 years of German history."

"The curse of Buchenwald still applies," Ramelow said, noting that "bird shit" was "not the right expression to explain the [Buchenwald] crimes."

Addressing the public, Ramelow urged people to fight against normalization of crimes such as the ones committed in Buchenwald. "The curse of Buchenwald is our daily work."

Bangladesh executes assassin of country’s founding leader

The former military leader was hanged in the early hours of Sunday. He was believed to have been hiding in India before being arrested last week.



Bangladesh has executed the assassin of the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, who was killed during a military coup in 1975.

Former military leader Abdul Majed was hanged at the Dhaka Central Jail in the early hours of Sunday. He met with his wife and four relatives on Friday, after President Abdul Hamid rejected his mercy plea on Thursday.

He was arrested in Dhaka on Tuesday this week, in what Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said was "the biggest gift" for Bangladesh this year. He was believed to have spent many years hiding in India.

Majed was convicted in 1998, along with a dozen other officers. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld the sentence in 2009, and five of the officers were executed several months later.

Rehman and most of his family were killed in the military coup. His daughter, Sheikh Hasina serves as the current prime minister of Bangladesh.

After the coup, Majed was given important diplomatic positions under the successive governments. An indemnity law enacted by the post-coup government prevented a prosecution of the killers. This law was overturned in 1996, when Hasina came to power.

Former East Pakistan became independent Bangladesh in 1971 after a nine-month freedom struggle, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.

tg/aw (AFP, AP)

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Date 11.04.2020

Fossil suggests Homo erectus is 200,000 years older than thought
By Brooks Hays

Scientists unearthed the world's oldest Homo erectus cranium in South Africa. Photo by Angeline Leece
April 3 (UPI) -- Paleontologists have unearthed the oldest fossil belonging to the hominin species Homo erectus.

The 2 million-year-old fossil skull, excavated over a five-year period in South Africa, suggests the early human relative emerged between 100,000 and 200,000 years earlier than previously thought

Scientists described the discovery in a new paper published this week in the journal Science.

"The Homo erectus skull we found, likely aged between 2 and 3 years old when it died, shows its brain was only slightly smaller than other examples of adult Homo erectus," lead study author Andy Herries, research professor and head o the the archaeology and history department at the La Trobe University in Australia, said in a news release.

RELATED Ancient human relative Lucy's brain was surprisingly ape-like

Using high-resolution dating methods, scientists confirmed the fossil cranium is at least 2 million years old, which means Homo erectus shared the African continent with at least two other hominin species, Paranthropus robustus and Australopithecus sediba.

"Unlike the situation today, where we are the only human species, 2 million years ago our direct ancestor was not alone," Herries said.

Because the skull predates fossils from other Homo erectus both inside and outside of Africa, scientists suggest the discovery proves Homo erectus emerged and evolved in Africa -- not Asia, as has been previously been suggested.

RELATED 2-million-year-old fossils suggest human ancestor was a tree climber

"Our discovery suggests, though, that Homo erectus likely did not evolve in eastern Africa as so often thought but perhaps somewhere else in Africa, or potentially in South Africa itself," researchers wrote in The Conversation. "More evidence is needed before firm conclusions can be reached, of course."

The dig site that produced the ancient skull, the Drimolen Fossil Hominin site located northeast of Johannesburg, has yielded a variety of significant hominin fossils. Analysis of additional fossils by an international team of scientists is ongoing.

The ongoing research suggests southern Africa presented hominins a variety of challenges, which may explain why each of the three hominin species living in the region evolved very different adaptations.

RELATED Earliest evidence of hominin interbreeding revealed by DNA analysis

The remains recovered from the Drimolen Fossil Hominin site offer a snapshot of the complex experimentation that defined early human evolution. Some of those early experiments were more successful than others.

"One of the questions that interests us is what role changing habitats, resources, and the unique biological adaptations of early Homo erectus may have played in the eventual extinction of Australopithecus sediba in South Africa," said study co-author Justin Adams, researcher at Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute.

"Similar trends are also seen in other mammal species at this time. For example, there are more than one species of false sabre tooth cat, Dinofelis, at the site -- one of which became extinct after two million years," Adams said. "Our data reinforces the fact that South Africa represented a truly unique mixture of evolutionary lineages -- a blended community of ancient and modern mammal species that was transitioning as climates and ecosystems changed."

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Ancient long-lived pioneer trees store majority of carbon in tropical forests
By Brooks Hays 4/10/2020

Old-growth forest on Barro Colorado Island, in Panama, hosts 300 tree species. Photo by Christian Ziegler/UT-Austin

April 10 (UPI) -- Trees that grow fast, live long and reproduce slowly, known as long-lived pioneers, store the majority of carbon found in tropical forests.

Scientists arrived at their discovery after analyzing the different development strategies used by various tree species.

"In an earlier study we found that trees pursue different strategies during their development, and those strategies can be classified according to two independent criteria," lead study author Nadja Rüger, a scientist with the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, told UPI.

Some tree species, scientists found, grow fast and die young. Other species grow slow and reach old age. Different tree species also achieve different statures.

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Fertility also influences a trees' development pattern. Some trees grow big and tall but are limited in their reproductive abilities. Smaller species like shrubs can reproduce in great numbers, but they fail to get very big.

Long-lived pioneers are a unique group. They grow fast, helping to pioneer new patches of forest. But they also grow old, allowing them to reach great stature. There are trade-offs, of course. Long-lived pioneers, or infertile giants, produce only small numbers of offspring.

To better understand how the different characteristics of tree species influence the formation, composition and evolution of tropical forests, scientists plugged data on growth rates, longevity, stature and fertility into sophisticated computer models.

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"We discovered that the nearly 300 unique tree species can be represented in our computer model by just five functional groups and still produce accurate forecasts of tree composition and forest biomass over time," study co-author Caroline Farrior, assistant professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, told UPI.

The models showed long-lived pioneers account for a majority of a forest's biomass and carbon storage.

The research -- published this week in the journal Science -- could be used to craft more effective conservation plans, and to prioritize the protection for forests with larger numbers of long-lived pioneers.

RELATED Protecting flood-controlling mangrove forests pays for itself

When studying forest development and composition in the past, scientists focused mostly on the trade-off between growth and survival -- grow fast and die young, or grow slow and grow old. But the latest analysis showed that balancing the trade-off between stature and reproduction is just as important.

For the most recent study, scientists utilized tree data meticulously collected from dense forests on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Researchers are currently working to see if they can repeat their predictive modeling efforts for forests that haven't already been extensively studied by scientists.

"One of our goals is to extend this approach to forests with less complete data, very young secondary forests and tropical dry forests," Rüger said. "If this succeeds, it will be much easier than today to scientifically support renaturation projects and sustainable timber use in tropical forests, and also, of course, to estimate how effectively re-growing forests contribute to carbon storage and, therefore, to climate mitigation."

RELATED Study: To save Earth, protect the largest species


RELATED Tropical ecosystems face perfect storm of threats

upi.com/6997325

Rates of depression, suicidal thoughts are high among transgender teens
By HealthDay News


Overall, 78.5 percent of transgender teens had a mental health condition, with depression the most common, a new study found. Photo by Wokandapix/Pixabay

Depression, suicidal thoughts and self-injury are common among U.S. transgender teens, new research shows.

The study also found that hormone therapy leads to significant improvements in gender dysphoria -- the feeling of being uncomfortable with the gender they were assigned at birth.


For the study, the researchers analyzed the medical records of 158 transgender teens treated at a pediatric endocrinology clinic between 2014 and 2019.

The patients included 107 affirmed males (female to male), 47 affirmed females (male to female), and four who considered themselves non-binary. Affirmed gender is an individual's declared gender identity.

RELATED Transgender adults question gender identity before age 7, study finds

Overall, 78.5 percent had a mental health condition, with depression the most common (66.5 percent). Suicidal thoughts were more common among affirmed males (70 percent) than among affirmed females (49 percent), the study found.

In addition, self-injuring (cutting) was more common among affirmed males (56 percent) than among affirmed females (25.5 percent).

On average, both affirmed males and affirmed females began hormone treatment between age 15 and 16. Both groups reported significantly lower gender dysphoria after starting hormonal treatment.

RELATED 4 of 5 transgender youths want preferred names, pronouns in health records


On a scale of 0 to 10, gender dysphoria dropped for affirmed males from 8.08 to 3.99 after starting treatment. For affirmed females, gender dysphoria fell from 7.87 before treatment to 2.96 after treatment began, according to the report.

The study was published in a special supplemental section of the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

"An increasing number of transgender youths are seeking therapeutic options to change their bodies and match their gender identity," lead researcher Dr. Veronica Figueredo, a resident at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, Fla., said in a news release from the Endocrine Society.

RELATED Half of transgender youth avoid disclosing gender identity to healthcare providers
More information

GLMA, an organization that works to ensure health equity for LGBTQ individuals, offers transgender health resources.