And this 8th of April, we, women from the Women's Initiative from Shuto Orizari, marked the International Day of the Roma, alarming about the obstacles that the Romani women in our country are facing today. The obstacles we can not rely on, but over the years it has become clear that the largest among them are unemployment and lack of access to reproductive health services.
Illegal collection and ineffective measures of the Program for active protection of mothers and children significantly burden everyday life, especially among the Roma women, and confirm that in Macedonia the right to health of women in reproductive age is not guaranteed in Macedonia.
The last Community Evaluation Map, a survey conducted by Shuto Orizari Women's Initiative for the seventh time in the territory of Suto Orizari, indicated that all 100 respondents were unemployed and that even 82% of those in reproductive age paid for an ECHO review in their own gynecologist, although this service is provided free of charge.
Despite the range of measures foreseen in the Program for the Active Protection of Mothers and Children for 2018, which should have facilitated access to health services for marginalized and vulnerable, the survey shows that:
40% of women without health insurance paid for laboratory analyzes during pregnancy and childbirth, although these services are free of charge,
only 16% used the right to free folic acid,
only 11% of pregnant women were visited by patronage nurses during pregnancy,
as many as 12% of pregnant women are minors.
Therefore, it is required from the Ministry of Health and the Health Insurance Fund to finally solve the long-standing problem of unlawful collection of free health services for gynecologists and to improve the implementation of measures from preventive programs for women in reproductive age.
It is appealing to the state and to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to give priority to all socially vulnerable categories of citizens in the "tailoring" of employment measures, especially to Roma who belong to the most marginalized group of citizens in the country.
Otherwise, why would I congratulate the International Roma Day?
