The Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Colm Burke TD has announced the development of a Roma Health Action Plan.
The initiative is among seven health actions contained in the new National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2024-2028, launched this week by Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman.
The initiatives aim to address the social determinants of Traveller and Roma health through tailored and affirmative measures to promote health and reduce inequalities. They also complement work already underway on the implementation of the Traveller Health Action Plan.
Health initiatives under the strategy include the development of a Roma Health Action Plan, delivery of the National Traveller Mental Health Implementation Plan and a funding call in conjunction with the Slaintecare Healthy Communities Programme to allocate €710,000 to address the social determinants of health for Travellers. Current initiatives will be reviewed and evaluated in order to inform the development of future projects to support Traveller and Roma communities.