ADRA

ADRA Provides Health Care to Roma Gypsies

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) office in Afghanistan recently completed a six-month education project in Jowzjan Province, Northern Afghanistan.

Outside the capital of Sofia, Bulgaria, in Kyustendil, more than 10,000 Roma Gypsies live in poverty. Shunned by the communities surrounding them, they suffer social isolation and prejudice. Families of eight to 10 are forced to live in one room and exist on $15 a month. They are denied access to basic health care and other social services. ADRA Bulgaria is the only agency providing regular, quality health care to the Roma.

In the first half of 2005, many doctors provided free check-ups to 1,745 Roma at the ADRA Medical-Social Center. Their health care needs are varied and have required the specialties of neurology, cardiology, gynecology and ophthalmology.

Illnesses diagnosed and treated during this period have included such basic health problems as sinusitis and high blood pressure and hernias to the more serious and life threatening illnesses of tuberculosis, diabetes, and heart disease. The ADRA Medical-Social Center is able to provide basic blood tests, ultrasounds of abdominal organs, and electrocardiograms, all free of charge.

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