Projects / Raising the sensitivity of national and regional health structures towards Roma(ni women) health issues

The basic problem the project addresses is that

• most of the official in the different health institutions, both at national and regional level are either ignorant of Roma health issues or prejudiced against Roma;
• Roma health issues are often lacking from strategic and policy documents.

To address these problems the project sets two major goals:

• first, to make the governmental institutions directly responsible about Roma health issues (the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues and the Ministry of Health with its regional branches) more sensitive towards Roma health problems and
• second, mainstream Roma issues in governmental health policy, strategies and other documents.

To achieve these goals the following activities will be undertaken:

1.1. Advocacy seminar for health officials working at national level
The aim of the seminar will be two-folded: from one side to make health officials working in the Ministry of Health and MLSP more sensitive and open to Roma issues; and from another, to turn them themselves into advocates for Roma health issues within their own institutions.

1.2. Advocacy seminar for representatives of the Regional Health Centers
The aim and the approach of the seminar will follow those of the seminar with officials from the national level: to make representatives of the regional health centers more sensitive and open to Roma issues and turn them into Roma health advocates.

2. Advocacy activities for including Roma health issues in the policy and the strategic and political documents of the new Ministry of Health
The activities here include: Establishing a Consultative body on minority issues at the Ministry of Health; Organizing at least two press conferences; a number of meetings and working meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Health. This advocacy campaign would further strengthen the connections between Roma Health NGOs created with the support of the RHP during previous years. In order to strengthen these efforts the newsletter of Center Amalipe will publish regular information on health issues every month. The newsletter will be prepared in Bulgarian and English. It will be send regularly to important institutions, both in the country and abroad (members of the European Commission, international bodies, and so on).

An intended outcome of the project activities would be establishment of the Consultative body on Roma health issues established in the Ministry of Health

Moreover, the project activities will facilitate the efforts of Center Amalipe and other Roma health organizations for broader inclusion of Roma issues in national policies.