Scope of the meeting

• Share best practices and lessons learned in improving access of Roma population to public health programs to prevent communicable diseases, by bringing together key stakeholders with experience in working with and for Roma.
• Provide an opportunity of identifying ways of improving health seeking behaviour and empowering Roma people to take part in the processes affecting their health considering the social, historical, cultural and behavioural context.
  Thus the overall aim of the meeting is to provide a forum for discussion on how knowledge and experiences could be used to stimulate the use of preventive services in the area of communicable diseases.

Expected meeting outputs:

• Shared best practices and lessons learned in putting in place public health practices to prevent and control communicable diseases among Roma populations.
• Develop a discussion paper focused on empowering of Roma people and improving their access to preventative services in the area of communicable diseases, including vaccination uptake.

Agenda

Monday, 28 November

Introduction to the meeting

• Challenges and opportunities to prevent and control communicable diseases in EU – Ülla-Karin Nurm, ECDC
• How are we going to work together to meet expectations – Tamsin Rose

Keynote speeches

• The Fundamental Rights Agency work on Roma – Dr. Eva Sobotka, FRA
• Why measles is still a threat to Europe? – Pier Luigi Lopalco, ECDC
• What we know about MMR vaccination among subgroups in Europe – focus on Roma/traveller VENICE survey 2010 – Suzanne Cotter, VENICE Project
• Roma Health Mediators - Successes and challenges – Alina Covaci, Open Society Foundations
• Presentation of the discussion paper – Irina Dinca, ECDC

From policy to practice  - accessing preventive and healthcare services – plenary followed by group work

Speakers:
Angel Kunchev, Ministry of Health, Bulgaria
Ricardo Hernandez Jimenez, Health Working Group of the State Council for Roma Population, Spain
Eva Csernus, District Public Health Authority Budapest, Hungary

Successful experiences in providing childhood immunization to Roma  – plenary followed by group work

Speakers:
Anastasia Pantazopoulou, Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, Greece
Lubomira Slusna, The Association for Culture, Education and Communication, Slovak Republic
Carmen Dinescu, District Public Health Authority Bihor, Romania
Hana Orlikova, National Institute of Public Health, Czech Republic

Tuesday, 29 November

Joining efforts for sustainable change

• Related WHO Regional Office for Europe activities – Robb Butler, WHO-EURO
• Roma Decade - perspective from Macedonian Presidency – Mila Carovska, HERA
• Options and opportunities to improve vaccination uptake among Roma - Niklas Danielsson, ECDC  

Watch a video with highlights of the meeting