Page 55 - S. Ličen, I. Karnjuš, & M. Prosen (Eds.). (2019). Women, migrations and health: Ensuring transcultural healthcare. Koper, University of Primorska Press.
P. 55
Reproductive Health of Migrant Women in Slovenia: State of the Art
cial Affairs and equal opportunities). Translated and adapted to the national
context was the Standard for Equity in Health Care for Vulnerable Groups
(Farkaš & Lipovec Čebron, 2016), which was originally produced by the In-
ternational Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services. The
tool is designed as a ‘barometer’ for discrimination in the health sector and al-
lows health institutions to find out the level of inclusion of different marginal-
ized or socially weak groups in their services. At the final conference of the
project, a Declaration on the Importance of Implementation of Intercultural
Mediation in Healthcare Institutions in Slovenia was presented (Farkaš et al.,
2016). Throughout the project, solutions were also introduced at a local level.
One of them was in the city of Celje where it became evident that women
from Albania faced language and cultural obstacles in health institutions. In
an attempt to overcome these obstacles, an intercultural mediator was in-
troduced in the local community, who was trusted by the Albanian commu-
nity and at the same time possessed good knowledge of both the Slovenian
and Albanian languages. During the project a pilot interdisciplinary educa-
tional course was also developed, titled Training for Development of Intercul-
tural Competencies of Health Professionals, which was implemented in three
public healthcare centres (Sevnica, Vrhnika and Celje) from February 2015 to
March 2016.
As revealed by the literature review, migrant women face twofold difficul-
ties in obtaining information and available services regarding reproductive
health: the first obstacle is language and cultural barriers and the second
is the absence of appropriate dissemination of already scarce existing in-
formation. This paradoxical situation is to a certain degree solved mainly
by NGOs (specifically Slovenian Philanthropy) which offer various mainly
project-based information services for migrants and provide cultural me-
diators for migrants in healthcare institutions.
In the context of gender-based violence and reproductive health, the
project Recognizing and Treating Victims of Domestic Violence in Health-
care Settings should be mentioned (implemented during the period 2009–
2014), which was co-financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism Pro-
gramme. Specific project goals were: (1) implementation of the Family Vio-
lence Prevention Act in the health sector; (2) education of health workers
based on professional guidelines for responding to violence against women
in healthcare settings (developed by the Ministry of Health of the Republic
of Slovenia); (3) increasing clinical, communication and cultural competen-
cies of health workers to recognize and treat victims of domestic violence
and to work with vulnerable groups; and (4) establishing intersectoral treat-
53
cial Affairs and equal opportunities). Translated and adapted to the national
context was the Standard for Equity in Health Care for Vulnerable Groups
(Farkaš & Lipovec Čebron, 2016), which was originally produced by the In-
ternational Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services. The
tool is designed as a ‘barometer’ for discrimination in the health sector and al-
lows health institutions to find out the level of inclusion of different marginal-
ized or socially weak groups in their services. At the final conference of the
project, a Declaration on the Importance of Implementation of Intercultural
Mediation in Healthcare Institutions in Slovenia was presented (Farkaš et al.,
2016). Throughout the project, solutions were also introduced at a local level.
One of them was in the city of Celje where it became evident that women
from Albania faced language and cultural obstacles in health institutions. In
an attempt to overcome these obstacles, an intercultural mediator was in-
troduced in the local community, who was trusted by the Albanian commu-
nity and at the same time possessed good knowledge of both the Slovenian
and Albanian languages. During the project a pilot interdisciplinary educa-
tional course was also developed, titled Training for Development of Intercul-
tural Competencies of Health Professionals, which was implemented in three
public healthcare centres (Sevnica, Vrhnika and Celje) from February 2015 to
March 2016.
As revealed by the literature review, migrant women face twofold difficul-
ties in obtaining information and available services regarding reproductive
health: the first obstacle is language and cultural barriers and the second
is the absence of appropriate dissemination of already scarce existing in-
formation. This paradoxical situation is to a certain degree solved mainly
by NGOs (specifically Slovenian Philanthropy) which offer various mainly
project-based information services for migrants and provide cultural me-
diators for migrants in healthcare institutions.
In the context of gender-based violence and reproductive health, the
project Recognizing and Treating Victims of Domestic Violence in Health-
care Settings should be mentioned (implemented during the period 2009–
2014), which was co-financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism Pro-
gramme. Specific project goals were: (1) implementation of the Family Vio-
lence Prevention Act in the health sector; (2) education of health workers
based on professional guidelines for responding to violence against women
in healthcare settings (developed by the Ministry of Health of the Republic
of Slovenia); (3) increasing clinical, communication and cultural competen-
cies of health workers to recognize and treat victims of domestic violence
and to work with vulnerable groups; and (4) establishing intersectoral treat-
53
