Yesterday NWCI and the Department of Health held a launch event for the Women’s Listening Forum Reports. The findings focused on women’s experiences of healthcare in Ireland and will inform the next Women’s Health Action Plan.
Pavee Point and the National Traveller Women’s Forum facilitated our own listening exercise with Traveller and Roma women from across the country to inform this report. Traveller and Roma Women spoke about their experiences of institutional racism in health services and the impacts of the wider social determinants of health, such as poor living conditions and unequal access to education and employment. This has led to significant health inequalities, as well as barriers accessing basic supports such as GP care and medical cards.
You can access a report on Traveller and Roma women’s experiences of healthcare by Pavee Point and NTWF linked below.
Our report reflects the recent findings in the Fundamental Rights Agency’s Survey on Roma and Traveller Rights in 13 EU counties published this month. The results show that 39% of Travellers and 30% of Roma in Ireland feel discriminated against when accessing healthcare.
Speaking at today’s launch, the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Rachel Kenna stated that disaggregated data was key to creating targeted measures for all women using health services.
Maria Joyce, National Traveller Women’s Forum, participated in the event’s panel discussion and welcomed the report which acknowledges that women are not a homogenous group. She called for the next Women’s Health Action Plan to align with intersecting strategies, including the National Traveller Health Action Plan and the National Action Plan Against Racism.
Lynsey Kavanagh, Co-Director Pavee Point, speaking from today’s event highlighted the important role of peer led health programmes, such as Traveller Primary Health Care Projects and the need for investment in the Traveller and Roma health infrastructure to implement real change.
Read our report here:
Read full NWCI report on Women’s Experience of Healthcare here:
www.nwci.ie/images/uploads/16404_NWC_Womens_Experience_of_Healthcare_V3_FOR_PRINT.pdf