BUCHAREST—The Open Society Institute (OSI) and Roma Education Fund (REF) today announced that 35 Romanian students of Roma ethnicity have been awarded scholarships for studies in medicine and pharmacology. The scholarship program, entitled “Roma Leadership in Health: A Generation of Health Professionals,” was launched this year as part of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, and is an unprecedented undertaking in Central and Eastern Europe.
“Discrimination and limited resources have created barriers for Roma access to quality health care. The education of Roma in the medical field will help tear down these barriers,” said Alina Covaci, program officer for OSI’s Roma Health Project.
In this first year of the scholarship program, 35 Roma students out of 53 applicants will receive tuition scholarships at state-accredited and recognized medical and medical-vocational schools. The selection of candidates was based on their academic merits and professional motivation as well as on their leadership skills.
In addition to paying tuition fees, the “Roma Leadership in Health” scholarship program will provide the selected students with supplementary support in areas such as foreign language tutoring and participation in professional conferences. A Tutoring and Mentoring Program is offered throughout the academic year in cooperation with the Romanian Association of Resident Physicians.
Before receiving their scholarships, the candidates participated in an advocacy training delivered by NGO Sastipen, coordinated by OSI. The first advocacy training, organized in September 2008 was designed to foster the students’ personal, communication and advocacy skills and enable them to raise awareness of the right of Roma to health care services.
Other partners in Romania are Media Monitoring Agency, Resource Center for Roma Communities, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Education, Research and Youth and National Agency for Roma.
A second round of applications for the scholarship program will be launched on January 31, 2009.
For further information regarding the scholarship program, visit www.romaeducationfund.org.