Roma Activists Challenge Discrimination in Health Care During European Public Health Conference
Between November 10–13, several Roma activists, including beneficiaries of the Roma Health Scholarship Program, participated at the annual conference of the European Public Health Association, held in Amsterdam. Being the largest public health gathering in Europe, the conference brought together over 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries—primarily health policymakers, academics, health care professionals, representatives of European Union institutions, and government officials. Entitled “Integrated Public Health,” the conference's primary aim was to explore the inderdependency of the main determinants of health including social, environmental, behavioral, and physical factors.
As part of the conference, the Roma Health Project of the Open Society Public Health Program organized a successful workshop, “Closing the Health Gap,” which focused on addressing the health inequalities and inequities faced by Roma in health care.
The workshop featured three presentations on the work of Roma NGOs and activists to decrease inequalities and inequities faced by Roma communities in the health care system. The first presentation discussed the achievements and challenges of Roma health mediators in Romania. The mediators program was implemented as a systemic solution to tackle health inequalities faced by Roma communities. The second presentation focused on the “Roma Leadership in Health” program developed by the Open Society Foundations and other NGOs to build the capacity of Roma medical professionals. The third presentation discussed concrete examples from Bulgaria for involvement of Roma in the development, implementation, and evaluation of health policies affecting them. A lively discussion followed the presentations and offered valuable insights for workshop participants interested in understanding and tackling Europe's most challenging health inequalities.
In addition to the workshop, Roma activists also actively participated in other academic and health policy sessions, including presentations by Roma Health Scholarship Program beneficiaries Aurelia Dulgheru and Diana Pirjol, as well as a speech by Nesime Salioska on Roma children, poverty, and health inequalities held at the workshop organized by the European Public Health Alliance.