As part of yet another summer volunteer initiative, a team of three students studying medical degrees visited the town of Rakitovo to conduct an initiative aimed at the prevention of socially significant diseases among the residents of the Roma neighborhood in the town.
Krastyo Minkov ("Medicine" at the Thracian University), Sonya Mineva ("Nursery" at the Thracian University) and Krassimira Krasimirova ("Medicine" at MU-Plovdiv), prepared and conducted their campaign with the support of Assoc. Prof. Boryana Parashkevova, mentor of some of the students. The field work on the campaign was organized in cooperation with the “Future” foundation.
In addition to the activities of measuring blood pressure and blood sugar levels, the young people provided information on the diagnosis, prevention, and control of common diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. The advice was tailored to the individual situation and risk factors of each of those who stopped at the information point of the initiative. The event was valuable for all participants, as it provided an opportunity for the young people to develop their professional and communication skills, to tell the locals about themselves and the program. For the locals, the meeting with the young people was an opportunity to get up-to-date guidance on specific health complaints and the possibilities for controlling the common risk factors, as well as to get acquainted with the medical professionals of the future who represent various Roma communities in the region.
The initiative of the participants in the program for Scholarship Support for Roma Students Enrolled in Medical Studies is executed with TSA’s support, as part of the project for Mentorship support for Roma Students Enrolled in Medical Studies, within the framework of the Active citizens fund Bulgaria.
Active citizens fund Bulgaria is implemented with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.