Participation of GNCHR in the final day of the program “REACH: Roma women's Empowerment and fighting discrimination in Access to Health”, 12.9.2022

On Tuesday 6 September 2022, the final workshop of the project “REACH: Roma women’s Empowerment and fighting discrimination in Access to Health” (https://romahealth.eu/), which is funded by the European Union’s “Rights, Equality and Citizenship” Program 2014 - 2020, was held online with great participation. The project aims to combat discrimination against Roma and to ensure equal access to health services, especially for Roma women, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health.

The project is implemented under the coordination of the consulting firm CMT PROOPTIKI in cooperation with the School of Midwifery of the University of West Attica, the Association of Greek Roma Mediators and Associates, the Municipality of Chalandri and the Municipality of Larissa.

The opening of the session was declared by the Secretary General for Social Solidarity and Combatting Poverty, Giorgos Stamatis, who referred to the importance of empowering Roma women and promoting health in Roma communities, where life expectancy is 10% lower than the general population, as well as to the National Strategy for the Social Inclusion of Roma and to collaborative actions, such as the promotion of the registration of vulnerable groups with the primary care physician service. Mr. Sotiris Voulgaris, Deputy Mayor of Social Policy and Welfare in the Municipality of Larissa, who expressed the Municipality's support to the REACH project and its actions, stressed the importance of strengthening the Community Centres. Finally, the Deputy Mayor of Environment and Social Policy in the Municipality of Chalandri, Kostas Efthymiou, also addressed the meeting, stressing the importance of focusing inclusion efforts on Roma groups living in the most adverse conditions and noting that projects such as REACH make a small step at local level, which can serve as a stepping stone for the adoption of more solid directions.

In Session 1 on access to health, Katerina Charokopou, Legal Officers at the National Commission for Human Rights, gave the opening presentation entitled “Challenges faced by Roma women and the role of the GNCHR”.