(CNN) The World Health Organization no longer classifies transgender people as mentally ill.

The United Nations health agency announced Monday in its 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) catalog that "gender incongruence" -- the organization's term for people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were assigned at birth -- has been moved out of the mental disorders chapter and into the organization's sexual health chapter.

The change will be presented at the World Health Assembly, the WHO's legislative body, in 2019 and will go into effect on January 1, 2022.

The WHO said the change is expected to improve social acceptance among transgender people, while still making important health resources available.

"It was taken out from the mental health disorders because we had a better understanding that this wasn't actually a mental health condition and leaving it there was causing stigma," said Dr. Lale Say, coordinator of WHO's Adolescents and at-Risk Populations team . "So in order to reduce the stigma while also ensuring access to necessary health interventions, this was placed in a different chapter."

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