While activities supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have helped increase access to health services for Roma, certain vulnerable groups within Roma communities still lack care and support and face higher risks for HIV/AIDS and TB infection.
How the Global Fund Can Improve Roma Health, published by the Open Society Public Health Program, assesses the impact of Global Fund-sponsored projects and the challenge of delivering HIV/AIDS and TB services to vulnerable Roma groups in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. The report also examines the involvement of Roma civil society in the development of proposals and implementation of projects sponsored by the Global Fund.
The report finds that the overall impact of HIV/AIDS and TB activities is limited because projects have incomplete needs assessments for vulnerable Roma groups or lack coordination with other Roma health initiatives. How the Global Fund Can Improve Roma Health aims to close these gaps by providing recommendations to help public health officials and advocates better address Roma health concerns and increase the involvement of Roma NGOs in developing and implementing projects.