The national conference organized by the Association ESE was held on 08.11.2013 at the hotel Arka and lasted for 5 hours. Total of 60 representatives of civil organizations and public institutions participated in the conference.
At the conference, the organizations and public institutions stated a range of obstacles that Roma people face regarding the access to health services, while ESE presented several approaches which can be applied in the everyday work and also contribute to the continuous registration and overcoming of violations of the rights of Roma people to health care and health.
The following was emphasized at the conference:
- Hidden discrimination in the treatment of Roma patients, inability for payment of the necessary health services, distance of medical institutions as well as inadequate knowledge about health rights are some of the barriers that Roma population encounter on everyday basis in their access to health services in Macedonia.
- Lack of relevant and official data about the health status of Roma people that prevents the resolution of their health problems.
- Marginalization of Roma people in Macedonia is alarming in several aspects of public and private life, and unfavorable socioeconomic and living conditions which are accompanied with the barriers for access to health services, contribute to the unfavorable health status and shorter life span of Roma people.
- “45% of Roma men and 64% of Roma women suffer from chronic diseases. 73% of people with chronic diseases are not able to purchase the necessary medication“.
- “Monitoring in the community is an important concept because the Roma citizen is given a central place and introduces the citizen with his/her health rights, services that the state is obligated to provide thus s/he further participates in the monitoring of those service in the reality, and can also participate in the implementation and adoption of decisions“.
The access enables to fill the vacuum that exists among the institutions that offer health care as stipulated by law and the population which has prevented access to information and knowledge about the mechanisms for protection.
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