Generally, minority women face more challenges to access information regarding health problems and in accessing the services as well. Therefore Women’s Association for Integration (WAI) undertook a new program to inform women and girls about sexually transmitted diseases and how they can get diagnoses and treatment.
Many women and girls, especially in Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, are poorly informed about health care problems and services. Quitting school early is especially common for girls in these communities. The lack of education directly affects their health even into adulthood.
To improve this situation, WAI offered informative lectures to 109 women and girls in the villages of Medvec, Hallac and Gradime in Lipjan as well as Ali Ibish and Sallahane neighborhoods and Dubrava village in Ferizaj.
Doctor Zekije Shala, speaking at the lectures, told women and girls about the importance of intimate care and about preventable diseases. Among the topics addressed were PapTest and its importance. It was disturbing to note that very few women had taken this cervical cancer test or even heard of it.
“This lecture helped me a lot because I didn’t know the Pap Test wasn’t painful”, said one of the participants. “That’s why I didn’t go before”.
The initiative, “Health Awareness of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Women in the Municipalities of Ferizaj and Lipjan”, also enabled WAI to hold coordinating meetings with organizations qualified to provide relevant health services. These included the Health Directorates and Office for Returns and Committees in Lipjan and Ferizaj. The aim of the meetings was to help these organizations improve services for women and girls.
Women were also informed about services available to them through public institutions for free or for a very small fee.
Another noteworthy outcome of the WAI initiative is that the Health Education and Promotion Team, which operates within the Health Directorate of Ferizaj, will deliver further lectures on relevant topics women in these communities.
Through this initiative 16 men also became more aware of the importance and treatment of these cases.
During the project implementation, a survey was conducted where 102 women and girls from these two municipalities were surveyed. The findings resulted in the published report “Access to the health services of Ashkali and Egyptian women and girls in the municipalities of Lipjan and Ferizaj”.
Some recommendations from the report were:
- Provide funding opportunities to organize and conduct further awareness campaigns on the importance of regular gynecological examinations, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and infections, uterine cancer, and related issues among these women.
- Conduct awareness campaigns for women and girls on health and patient rights.
- Conduct in-depth analysis and research on the incidence of early marriages in Kosovo, including Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, in order to inform key decision makers on steps needed to effectively address this practice.
