Roma Population in the Republic of Macedonia - Strategy for Social Inclusion and Integration

According to the Census from 2002, there were 53.879 Roma living in Macedonia, representing 2,66% of the total population. Since the introduction of political pluralism in Macedonia in 1991, Roma established their own political parties and more than 40 Roma NGOs in Macedonia, which are active in the fields of human rights, culture, education, environmental issues and infrastructure projects. There are a number of periodicals printed in Roma, as well as several television and radio stations. Roma are especially burdened by transition problems. Social and economic status places them in the category of the poorest citizens and the most marginalised group in Macedonia. Poor health status in Roma is associated with poverty, the specific culture and lifestyle, low level of immunization, low level of education, especially health education, poor nutrition, continuous stress and lack of proper sanitation. The consequences of that are higher morbidity and mortality, especially infant mortality, high birth rate, population growth, underweight of Roma children and lower life expectancy. Communicable diseases, especially tuberculosis and hepatitis B, are serious problem in Roma. Invalidity rate is much higher, too. Physical accessibility of health care to Roma is generally good. But, economic accessibility was lower till 2009 because of reduced coverage by health insurance and poverty. The general aims of the National Strategy for Roma in Macedonia, adopted in January 2005, is greater integration of Roma in the mainstream of Macedonian society and reduction of poverty, as well as long-term development of every aspect of the Roma community. Macedonian state is devoted for implementation of the priorities set forth in the Strategy and for establishment of normative and institutional prerequisites for reaching the European Union standards. In addition to this, the Government of Macedonia took an active part, from 2003, in the initiative known as the Decade of Roma Inclusion.