Government of the Republic of Serbia
The programme being implemented by the Ministry of Health “Implementation of the Action Plan on Healthcare for Roma” has introduced healthcare mediators, improving the health of Roma persons through their work. This was the conclusion of the SCTM Network for Roma Issues, held on 20 April 2017 in Belgrade. The event served to discuss the performance of healthcare mediators since the introduction of the programme, improvements of the healthcare of Roma population and the living environment in Roma settlements, as well as further plans in this field.
The Ministry of Health supported the project of introducing healthcare mediators in the healthcare system of Serbia in 2008, financially supporting 75 healthcare mediators at the time. The workplace of healthcare mediator is in the field service of the Health Centre, where they cooperate with associates in the Health Centre, the Social Work Centre, the RFZO branch office and local self-government. A healthcare mediator connects the healthcare system and Roma persons. The role of healthcare mediators is to keep records on the health status of Roma persons, to work with them on raising awareness on the need for child vaccination, as well as the importance of proper food and hygienic habits. Healthcare mediators provide better insight for healthcare institutions into the status of such settlements, while to the residents they emphasize the importance of timely visits to the doctor. A healthcare mediator is not a healthcare worker, but she connects the healthcare system and residents of informal settlements.
Assistant Minister at the Sector for Public Health and Healthcare Programme of the Ministry of Health Vesna Knjeginjić said that the number of currently employed healthcare mediators is insufficient. Ms Knjeginjić said that the Ministry of Health is currently facing significant challenges, including the lack of a large number of healthcare workers in Serbia, and that their activities will, for now, remain financed through projects.
The event was held as part of the project “Institutional Support to SCTM – Phase Two”, financially supported by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).
Source: www.skgo.org
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