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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Cristina Jitariu, MD, MA and S. Katherine Farnsworth, MA. Romanian Representative, JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., 13 G. Calinescu, Bucharest, 011691, Romania, +4 (021) 232-9687, cristina.jitariu@jsi.ro

The health status of Roma women from Romania is connected to a complex set of issues, including cultural, educational, discrimination and exclusion. In terms of health indicators, Roma women suffer the worst of any single group in Romania: 44% aged 15-44 have never had a routine gynecologic exam and 93% have never had a Pap smear; 80% receive inadequate prenatal care; and the Roma infant mortality rate (50.6) is twice that for Romanian infants (26.9).

The Romanian Family Health Initiative (RFHI), a USAID-funded project implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., responded to the situation by integrating a reproductive health (RH) component into an existing Roma Health Mediator (RHM) Program. Working in partnership with the Government of Romania and key NGOs, JSI trained RHMs to provide information and referrals to RH services for Roma communities. Simultaneously, primary health care providers were trained to provide client-centered RH counseling and care to clients, including Roma.

As a result of this project, a culturally adapted training manual was drafted for RHMs covering RH topics as well as behavior change communication and group education. A total of 59 RHMs have been trained using the manual, and as a result, 98 communities in nine districts are covered by trained RHMs.

Through interventions based on the principle of peer education and by involving health professionals, the RFHI increases knowledge of RH among Roma women and improves their access to high quality, comprehensive reproductive health services.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Understand the status of the Roma women and how we can empower them to provide better care of their families.
• 2. Learn how health inequities among ethnic minorities can be reduced using existing resources.

Keywords: Minority Health, Reproductive Health

Related Web page: www.jsi.com/Romania

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered