Vulnerable, marginalized and socially-excluded groups have very limited access to
sexual and reproductive health services in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. IPPF EN ensures that particularly these underserved groups have access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), education and high quality services, while being able to exercise their rights to make informed choices on their SRH.
SRHR for the marginalized groups in Central Europe, including Roma
The IPPF EN regional office has established an initial inventory of good practices and lessons learned regarding initiatives to improve the SRHR of Roma (ethnic group living in many communities all over the world often referred to as gypsies). People working to improve the SRHR of Roma in several countries have been able to share experiences and exchange ideas.
The MA staff and volunteers participating in this project gained valuable information and were able to share experience and good practice on issues such as sexual taboo and tradition (homosexuality, gender issues), SRH services (inclusion of service providers and sustainability), the issue of Roma health mediators and the difficulty to ensure government suppport.
Grassroots, national and international organizations gathered in Bratislava in March 2007 for a final conference to share their best practices and tools in addressing SRHR of Roma. Participants had the opportunity to discuss their experiences in small groups on various topics such as working with media, providing SRH services, rights, dealing with social and cultural issues, health mediation, peer and youth education, community involvement, social inclusion, partnerships.
Their lessons learned and best practices were translated into a set of agreed programmatic recommendations. These will be issued as part of the conference report. A statement addressing policymakers was also discussed and endorsed by all participants.
Strengthening the Quality of Reproductive Health Care
Ensuring the provision of good quality of care in IPPF's Member Associations is an important component of IPPF's work. Good quality of care enhances clients' satisfaction and their use of services. It increases job satisfaction and motivation among service providers, and leads to greater sustainability of services.
Starting from this framework, IPPF launched the 'Strengthening the Quality of Reproductive Health Care' programme in 2001. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the project is moving the quality of care concepts into practice.
34 Member Associations across all six of IPPF's regions, including IPPF European Network are currently taking part in the programme.
During a workshop in January 2006, the IPPF EN Regional Office and the MAs that participated in the IPPF Quality of Care project were able to draw the lessons of their experience. This provided the regional office, and the Federation, with a sound base for possible scaling up of the programme. The lessons learned - particularly the "do's and don'ts" - provide good guidelines both for the regional office and MAs both for quality improvement and for other initiatives involving service provision.
Read more on the Quality of Care Programme.