In rural communities across Kosovo, access to reliable healthcare information remains limited. Conversations about reproductive health, cervical cancer and contraception are often surrounded by stigma, making access to accurate information much more difficult. Cultural taboos, financial hardship and lack of institutional trust continue to prevent women and young people from accessing healthcare information and the services they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recognising these challenges, Ruka Ruci worked with Serbian, Albanian, Roma and Ashkali women, youth and families to strengthen awareness of healthcare rights and improve trust in healthcare services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruka Ruci organised 33 community events, including informational workshops and lectures, discussions on patient rights, immunisation awareness sessions and advocacy initiatives aimed at strengthening institutional complaint mechanisms. The lectures were delivered by medical specialists in gynecology, obstetrics and family medicine. Overall, 308 people from twelve villages across the municipalities of Fushe Kosovo and Gracanica benefited from these activities. For many women, the events created a safe and supportive space where they felt empowered and comfortable to ask questions about their health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruka Ruci did not stop at education and awareness-raising but pushed also for institutional accountability. All participants were given the opportunity to document patient rights complaints of past medical experiences regarding rude behaviour, insufficient information and long wait times. Of the four patient rights complaints, all were resolved within the legal deadline. Each of the individuals who filed a complaint was given explanations and apologies. For many women and young people who were used to feeling dismissed, this recognition mattered deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lectures and workshops with healthcare providers encouraged participants to receive preventative care, resulting in 38 women undergoing gynecological examinations. According to the healthcare providers, \u201cmore than 100 participants became more engaged in monitoring patient rights mechanisms\u201d, showing increased awareness and confidence in advocating for the fulfilment of their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruka Ruci expanded reach of the initiative beyond workshops and community meetings through local television campaigns on RTK2 and TV Gracanica. This addition helped bring conversations surrounding reproductive health and preventive care to a wider public space. In addition, informational posters in Serbian and Albanian were distributed through local institutions and educational spaces to raise awareness about cervical cancer prevention, HPV vaccination and patient rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruka Ruci’s initiative had a lasting impact on the communities that were reached. The conversations surrounding traditionally taboo topics created an atmosphere in which women and youth felt comfortable to speak about their health, while also learning to advocate for themselves within the healthcare system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By improving awareness of patient rights, preventive care and reproductive health, the initiative helped strengthen trust between communities and healthcare institutions. The activities provided women, youth and their families with the resources and knowledge needed to take a more active role in protecting their wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruka Ruci\u2019s initiative \u201cTogether for Our Health\u201d was carried out with support from the Kosovo Women\u2019s Network\u2019s (KWN) Kosovo Women\u2019s Fund (KWF), financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and co-financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), in the amount of \u20ac9,926, from January 2024 to February 2025. The initiative contributed directly to KWN\u2019s Programme \u201cRight to Health<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In rural communities across Kosovo, access to reliable healthcare information remains limited. Conversations about reproductive health, cervical cancer and contraception are often surrounded by stigma, making access to accurate information much more difficult. Cultural taboos, financial hardship and lack of institutional trust continue to prevent women and young people from accessing healthcare information and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3368410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3368409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3368409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3368413,"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368409\/revisions\/3368413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3368410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3368409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3368409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womensnetwork.org\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3368409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}