Radio România Internațional

Tag: rural areas

  • Vaccination – between trust and mistrust

    Vaccination – between trust and mistrust

    Most
    Romanians are aware of the danger COVID-19 represents, and nearly half of the
    population believes the pandemic will go on for at least two-three years, a
    study conducted by the Quality of Life Research Institute of the Romanian
    Academy reads. Sociologist Iulian Stănescu, a scientific researcher with the
    Institute, told Radio Romania more about Romanians’ waning confidence and
    solidarity during the pandemic.


    In
    situations of social crisis, much like the recent epidemic, but we could also
    talk about war, terrorist attacks and other crises, some societies experience an
    increase in cohesion, others a drop. Romanian society is part of the latter,
    and I can say since the start of the pandemic, social cohesion has been
    affected, Romania’s social backbone is tired. In other words, society is losing
    its resilience. And resilience is also that feature of society that helps her
    resist social shocks and crises and better absorb their effects.


    Over
    half of Romanians (56%) would recommend a friend to get vaccinated, with the elderly
    and people with higher education being the most vaccine-prone. There are,
    however, over 2 million people from all social categories that oppose vaccination
    and would counter-recommend it. The main reasons behind vaccination reluctance
    and hesitancy are the lack of information, manipulation and disinformation, but
    also adverse reactions, including death, mistrust in the efficiency of vaccine,
    but also the belief that the COVID pandemic doesn’t exist. The percentage of
    people who deny the existence of the virus has reached 6% of the population,
    accounting for 800 thousand people, a group large and active enough to make its
    presence felt, the researchers also note. At a time when immunization is at its
    lowest, the authorities highlight the need to complete the COVID vaccination
    scheme and are preparing wider awareness-raising campaigns in the rural area, where
    the immunization rate remains low. According to the coordinator of the vaccination
    campaign, medical doctor Valeriu Gheorghiţă, nearly 50% of vaccination centers
    are at present working at half-capacity. The activity in certain centers will
    stop in the near future, while others will see their working hours reduced.
    With a progressive drop in the number of people taking the anti-COVID jab,
    the quantity of vaccines delivered to Bucharest will be slashed as well. So far,
    60% of the 15 million doses made available to Romania by the European
    Commission have been used. (VP)



  • The vaccination campaign in rural areas

    The vaccination campaign in rural areas

    While new deliveries of anti-COVID-19 vaccine continue
    to arrive in Romania every month, the vaccination campaign is showing signs of
    slowdown, and the targets of central authorities have not been met. Overall,
    since the start of the campaign last year, Romania received over 9 million
    doses of vaccine produced by Pfizer, adding to which were deliveries of the AstraZeneca,
    Moderna and Johnson&Johnson vaccines. The total number of people who have
    taken the vaccine has exceeded 4.5 million, below the 5 million target
    announced by Prime Minister Florin Cîțu for the start of June. During a visit to a drive-through vaccination center
    in Baia-Mare, the Prime Minister said the vaccination campaign must enter a new
    phase where the serum should reach everyone, even when access is difficult,
    especially in rural areas. In this respect, Florin Cîțu called on the leaders
    of small communities to get involved.


    I met young people under 18
    years of age [who got vaccinated e.n.], which sends out a strong signal, but we
    should all understand we accomplished the best we could with the available
    resources. To get the vaccination campaign to rural areas we need the support
    of local authorities – the president of the county council, the prefect, the
    mayor, but also influencers – priests, doctors, local law enforcement. Everyone
    must get involved to get the campaign closer to people. I trust they will come
    up with innovative solutions to convince people vaccination is the only way we
    can all return to our lives before the pandemic.


    In turn, Health Minister Ioana Mihăilă promised she would travel every week
    across the country to encourage the vaccination process. Will the Government’s
    target of 10 million vaccinated people be reached by September? The Health
    Minister believes the important thing is to get as many people vaccinated as
    possible, so that the incidence rate should be kept in check. According to Ioana
    Mihăilă, the campaign is currently focusing on at-risk categories, namely
    elderly and people with chronic illnesses. Adding to them are people exposed to
    the secondary effects of COVID-19, and children aged 12-15, who transmit the
    disease more easily. (VP)







  • Romania’s rural areas need better medical services

    Romania’s rural areas need better medical services

    Many people face huge difficulties when it comes to getting the medical care they are entitled to. One reason for this is the small number of family doctors in villages, in spite of the fact that 40% of Romania’s population lives in the countryside. People living in rural areas often have to travel to another village to see a family doctor and many of them cannot afford to pay the transportation fee. Not being aware of their rights in terms of access to medical services is another big problem of the people living in rural areas, as Daniela Buzducea, advocacy director with World Vision Romania has noted:



    “There are people who are not aware that children and pregnant women have access to free medical services, no matter if they have health insurance or not. We believe more should be invested in raising people’s awareness of their rights. We also believe that education should start at an early age. Unfortunately, Romania has a problem with unplanned and unwanted teenage pregnancies.”



    The lack of health education is reflected in the high infant mortality rate in Romania. Daniela Buzducea:



    “In the rural area, the infant mortality rate is almost double in certain areas as compared to the national average. 20% of the families with children aged under 5 have never taken their infants to a doctor, although there are strict guidelines as to the medical check-ups children must undergo before the age of 5. Another problem is the big number of malnourished children.”



    Against this background, several initiatives aimed at improving the situation have been launched:



    “A number of programmes have already been run and the results are already visible. One example is a programme that combines continuing education for GPs and nurses in rural areas with information campaigns for parents and material support for underprivileged families. This support is not of a financial nature, but tries to develop these families’ capacity to improve their economic skills to be able to provide quality food for their children. Unless we invest in the nutrition of young children, it will be much more expensive to deal with the health problems that may appear later on.”



    These initiatives have also found a voice in the European Union. This autumn, MEP Victor Negrescu, from the Group of Socialists and Democrats, secured the support of the European Parliament for a pilot project worth 1 million euros, aimed at involving the European Union in the process of improving healthcare services, those in rural areas in particular. Victor Negrescu explains:



    “We will work with health experts and try to find practical solutions that can actually be implemented, so as to improve and increase access to medical services in rural areas. Based on the experts’ proposals, these solutions will be implemented in one or two villages, hopefully in Romania, to see if they work. The solution that works best will receive 3 million euros worth of funding in the following year to implement the programme in different villages and see how it works. If all goes well, in three years at the most, a financing system will become available for the first time to all villages in Romania and the European Union allowing local authorities and doctors in rural areas access to funds for bringing medical services to rural areas, improving the quality of the existing services and purchasing new medical equipment. This is the first step towards a true financing system for medical services in the countryside.”



    MEP Victor Negrescu also agrees that education regarding access to healthcare services is extremely important:



    “We have to make people aware of their choices, of how to take care of their nutrition and other things that are crucial for their health and can prevent serious medical problems. The second most important thing is prevention. Apart from medical interventions as such, we have to focus on prevention, which implies regular medical checks and going to a doctor when faced with a health problem. These things are very important in rural areas, where people do not have direct access to a chemist’s or a doctor and sometimes find out too late that they have a serious medical problem that can no longer be treated.”