Between 17 to 19 April 2012 in Bratislava held the first international workshop on 3-year project "Initiative for Health and Vaccinations", which in Bulgaria is carried out by the National Network of Health Mediators. The participating NGOs from three countries - Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Funding is provided under the program of GlaxoSmithKline Community Partnership "Improving the health status of Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe."
The main objective is to create a sustainable network of mediators in the four countries that contribute to:
- Reduction and prevention of infectious and sexually transmitted diseases.
- Reducing the levels of infant mortality among vulnerable populations.
The project aims to facilitate communication between vulnerable populations and health systems and sharing of experiences between countries in the field of successful policies in health and prevention of infectious and socially significant diseases with a focus on vulnerable groups of Roma.
Participants in the workshop were from Bulgaria Peter Tsvetanov (Chairman of the Network) Prof. Dr. Ivaylo Turnev and Dilyana Dilkov (members of the Network Board). They presented to our colleagues from Romania, Slovakia and Hungary made so far - namely, selection and training of 15 new mediators of Targovishte, Rousse, Karlovo, Preslav, Byala Slatina, Strumyani, Pavlikeni, Balchik, Dobrich, Karnobat Aitos , Provadia Petrich, Radomir Chirpan. These 15 mediators will receive remuneration for their labor provided under the project by the end of 2012, and then are expected to be appointed with delegated to municipalities.
It was presented the history of health mediation in Bulgaria and the process of institutionalization of the profession - colleagues from other countries were extremely impressed by the track record of the mediators in Bulgaria, and the strong support they receive for their work by the institutions at national level - Parliamentary Health Committee, National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and integration issues to the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Health. As a testament to the commitment of government to the program for mediators in Bulgaria was adopted and the fact that the recently adopted National Strategy for Roma Inclusion 2012-2020 and Action Plan of the mediators it is assigned a significant role.
At the beginning of 2013 looks forward to the next international meeting on the project, which will take place in Bulgaria.