OSI's Roma Health and Health Media programs collaborated to support the Center for Independent Journalism, based in Bucharest, Romania, to launch an investigative journalism fellowship on the topic of access to health care for Roma. After a national two-day editors roundtable and a competitive selection process, the project resulted in the production and publishing of three pieces in regional newspapers in Romania. The work details various issues impacting Roma health—which is disproportionally poorer than that of non-Roma residing in the same communities. The articles bring to light the need to further improve access to quality health care for Roma and explore the systems that create unequal access.

Fellowship recipients are as follows. Complete articles are also available for download in English and Romani-language.

Hundreds of Thousands of Euros for Roma Access to Health Care: The "Sastipe" Affair, Nicoleta Butnaru and Liliana Serban

Nearly 730,000 euros of EU funds have been invested over the last three years in Braila County, Romania, in support of the Roma community’s access to health care and the development of the areas where they reside. As a result of wide-ranging investigations initiated by the Center for Independent Journalism, the reporters found that not all of this money can be traced to the community. The amounts supplied for Roma health care followed a winding path, and Roma lives did not improve significantly, despite the considerable investment. Download the article.

Infected and Abandoned: HIV-Positive Teenagers in Marasesti, Silvia Vranceanu

Marasesti, the poorest town in Vrancea county, is among the first places in Romania to report HIV/AIDS cases. More than 70 Roma children fell victim to a 1989 HIV outbreak, labelled an “epidemiologic accident” and kept secret by the health authorities. The “accident” occurred in a neighborhood on the Marasesti outskirts, inhabited by 4,000 Roma. Without an official inquiry to confirm their suspicions on how their children were infected, Roma parents put the blame on medical professionals. For 16 years, the fate of the city has been connected with AIDS, poverty, discrimination, and ignorance. Download the article.

Twenty-First-Century Underground World, Daniel Tomozei and Luiza Nicu

At the doorstep of the European Union, Romania conceals a world at the lowest levels of its social and economic life, a world only occasionally mentioned in statistics and electoral speeches. The extremely poor Roma communities living in Sibiu County include thousands of children, most of them in critical health conditions, with no possibility of access to health care, educational services, or basic hygiene conditions. Roma families face an alarming increase in children’s disease incidence and school abandonment, social and economic isolation, and exclusion from vocational training and the labor market. Roma county leaders are disappointed with the support provided by the state and blame the system for their situation. Download the article.