29.05.18 Ljubljana, National Coalition Meeting in Slovenia
The Peace Institute (Ljubljana, Slovenia) in cooperation with the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana held a national coalition meeting titled »Intercultural Contacts in the Field of Health« which took place on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, at 17:00 at the National Museum of Slovenia.
The meeting focused on the topic of integration of migrants and refugees in the health system. As with most European countries, Slovenia is becoming increasingly multicultural. Due to heterogeneity in a modern multicultural society, healthcare institutions and their workers face a number of intercultural challenges. The primary causes of these challenges are differences in determinants of health, needs and vulnerability of patients. The "migrant crisis" poses many questions to our society and, consequently, the functioning of health, as the experience of migrants testifies to the fact that health care in our country reflects policies and practices of exclusion. The meeting focused on how to ensure interculturally competent healthcare, access to health services for those who do not have a proper legal status and how to enable effective communication with people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds? In what way should healthcare actors face such challenges? What are the solutions and what are the best practice examples of integration and integration in the field of health?
In addition to the project team and 10 participants from different backgrounds, the meeting was attended by two guests – experts in the field of health care, namely Dr. Uršula Lipovec Čebron from the Faculty of Arts (Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology) and Alenka Ugrin Vatovec, social worker and head of the counselling service at the Health centre for people without health insurance - Pro Bono.
The meeting focused on the topic of integration of migrants and refugees in the health system. As with most European countries, Slovenia is becoming increasingly multicultural. Due to heterogeneity in a modern multicultural society, healthcare institutions and their workers face a number of intercultural challenges. The primary causes of these challenges are differences in determinants of health, needs and vulnerability of patients. The "migrant crisis" poses many questions to our society and, consequently, the functioning of health, as the experience of migrants testifies to the fact that health care in our country reflects policies and practices of exclusion. The meeting focused on how to ensure interculturally competent healthcare, access to health services for those who do not have a proper legal status and how to enable effective communication with people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds? In what way should healthcare actors face such challenges? What are the solutions and what are the best practice examples of integration and integration in the field of health?
In addition to the project team and 10 participants from different backgrounds, the meeting was attended by two guests – experts in the field of health care, namely Dr. Uršula Lipovec Čebron from the Faculty of Arts (Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology) and Alenka Ugrin Vatovec, social worker and head of the counselling service at the Health centre for people without health insurance - Pro Bono.