Finland — COHERE

Finland’s public-care council (COHERE / PALKO) issued a recommendation on which medical treatments for gender dysphoria in minors belong in public healthcare. Research data on those treatments in minors, it states, is limited.

• Psychosocial support should be provided in school, student, and primary healthcare. Psychiatric treatment for concurrent illness is arranged locally; no conclusions can be drawn on the stability of gender identity during an active psychiatric disorder.
• Diagnostics, assessment of medical need, and planning are centralized at HUS and TAYS. Puberty suppression may be initiated only case-by-case after careful diagnostic examinations if indications are present and there are no contraindications.
• Hormonal interventions that alter sex characteristics before 18 may be considered only if identity as the other sex is permanent and causes severe dysphoria, the young person can understand irreversible lifelong hormone therapy, and no contraindications are present.
• Surgical treatments are not part of the treatment methods for dysphoria caused by gender-related conflicts in minors.