The State Secretariat for Social Inclusion at the Ministry of Human Resources is using EU subsidies to implement a project focusing on social inclusion in healthcare, which has priority status within the New Széchenyi Plan.

At the opening of the workshop organised on the subject, the Deputy State Secretary for Social Inclusion said that the success of initiatives aiming to help the disadvantaged may depend on the health status of those participating in the programmes.

As an example, she mentioned employment training programmes, in which participants have to be in good health to be able to start work afterwards. Similarly, in the field of childcare, services provided by the so-called “children’s houses” for disadvantaged children are only available to the healthy. Therefore improving the health of disadvantaged groups is necessary and special attention must be paid to prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

As part of the National Social Inclusion Strategy, the Hungarian government and the National Roma Self-Government (ÖRO) have signed a framework agreement which highlights the role of healthcare in social inclusion and has set the exemplary goal of providing medical screening for 150,000 people of Roma origin. 

The workshop was attended by representatives of the National Roma Self-Government, the World Health Organisation, the National Institute for Health Development (OEFI) and the Türr István Training and Research Institute (TKKI).

(Prime Minister's Office)