DEPUTY Prime Minister Pál Csáky has promised to raise awareness of family planning among Roma communities, and to intensify training of health workers in reproductive health.
This would require Sk2.5 million (60,000 euro), to be provided under the 2002-2003 action plan for the prevention of all forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism.
Two foreign NGOs alleged earlier this year that upward of 100 Roma women in Slovakia had been forcibly sterilised. The government says the reports were untrue.
Csáky's project for the protection of reproductive health of Roma minority members is focused on around 300 Roma settlements in the Prešov, Košice, and Banská Bystrica regions.
It will aim to remove barriers to health care, and encourage Roma girls and women to visit gynaecologists and receive information on reproductive health.
