Health is Bliss! Annual meeting of health mediators
Sofia, November 21, 2018
As usual for this time of year, at the Parliament took place the 12th annual national meeting of the health mediators. It was opened by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Health Commission Dr. Daniela Daritkova. The achievements and activities of the mediators during the last year were presented at four informational stands in the lobby of the Parliament. Vaccine prophylaxis, hygiene, family planning, maternal and chlid health, informational campaigns, educational initiatives, partnerships with different organizations, field work - just a fraction of the activities, in which the mediators are actively supporting health specialists and institutions in their work with vulnerable communities. Very few initiatives have demonstrated such sustainability over time and transformed from an NGO project into state policy. NNHM exists for 11 years and through its work synergistically combines the effort of state, private and NGO sectors for improving the cooperation between general practitioners, health mediators and regional health inspectorates with the support of parliamentarians, government institutions, medical community and NGO sector.
BFPA is part of the training of young volunteers of the “Big Brothers, Big Sisters” Association.
Plovdiv, October 20-21, 2018
On October 20th and 21st at the Expo hotel in Plovdiv, took place the first two-day youth volunteer training of the “Big Brother, Big Sister” association’s “First encounters” campaign The campaign aims to create a team of motivated young people who will be working with children and young people from several institutions of closed type in Plovdiv using the peer-to-peer method. Through the prism of the interactive educational methods the volunteers will inform them on topics from the field of health and sexuality education will introduce them to basic human rights and will also work together on prevention of aggression and hate speech. The campaign’s goal is to increase the self-awareness of marginalized young people as far as to underline their emotional and physical world is untouchable and to develop their ability to identify relationships in which violence and risk could potentially arise. The main strategy of the educational program is building self-esteem, equality and empathy through acquiring knowledge, skills and asserting constructive attitudes.
Ambassador Deyana Kostadinova was elected for co-chairperson of the Regional conference for reviewing of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action at UNECE
Geneva, October 1-2, 2018
Ambassador Deyana Kostadinova, permanent representative of Bulgaria to the United Nations and other international institutions in Geneva, was elected for a co-chairperson of the Regional conference for reviewing of the implementation of the Programme of Action at the UN Conference on Population and Development. The event took place on October 1-2, 2018 in Geneva. Electing Bulgaria for a joint chair is an acknowledgment for the effort of the country including civil society organizations regarding policies for youth, social inclusion and human rights.
BFPA is a part of a national platform for preventing violence against children –“Childhood without violence” Coalition
Sofia, September 12, 2018
On September 12th at the Quill Literary club in Sofia was announced the creation of a large scale national platform to combat the violence against children – “Childhood without violence” Coalition. 19 civil society organizations and experts who have worked for years for prevention of violence against children and its consequences, united for joint actions, provoked by the lack of advancement in state policies and practices, the lack of shared understanding in society and the deepening of the problem in the last years. The members of the “Childhood without violence” Coalition aim for the Coalition to become a major platform working for zero tolerance for violence against children which includes members from all aspects of society – civil society organizations, parents and citizens, institutions, business, media. The platform envisages advocacy work with institutions for legislative changes and ensuring sustainable public services and measures for protecting children from violence, conducting researches, developing instruments for identifying and alerting for children at risk, which are to be used by different specialists – social workers, teachers, medical doctors and health workers, policemen, etc.
BFPA supports the new educational video of Loveguide “Ob/Gyn examination”
Sofia, August 8, 2018
The latest video from our friends and partners from Loveguide is about the Ob/Gyn examination. When do you go for a gynecological examination? Why, how and how often? When you have symptoms or for prophylaxis? Alone or with a friend/companion? Do virgins go to the gynecologist? We from BFPA were happy to help with those and the other answers of the questions in the video. And if you need an examination or a consultation with a specialist you can follow the advice in the video and contact us. We wish you a good and smart summer!
A successful end of the “Journalists in School” campaign of Valya Krushkina Fund, connected this year with the “How to identify fake news” video
Sofia and the country, July 17, 2018
The largest edition of the “Journalists in School” initiative 2018 is over. 2470 students from 38 schools and 34 cities all over the country participated in it. In total, 21 prominent journalists, connected to the “Valya Krushkina-journalism for the people” awards entered the classrooms to show the young people how to recognize fake news, why it’s important to be active citizens and what it’s like to be a journalist. BFPA has supported the campaign ever since its first edition. The meetings began with the educational video “Fake news and how to identify them”. Thanks to it and the following conversation, the students acquired skills to identify fake news and also the knowledge how to check whether news is fake. During the meetings the journalists demonstrated to the young people why it’s important to participate in their community’s activities and convinced them that the change in the environment is up to them. That way the conversations about the media situation in Bulgaria stimulated the students to be active citizens.
BFPA at the Annual Meeting of the National Network of Children
Tryavna, June 14-16, 2018
Active inclusion of parents, changing the principle of delegated budgets, later start of the work time in schools, more physical activities, integrating of interactive approaches of working, individual approach and special efforts for early professional orientation... only part of the suggestions, given by the participants in the frame of the session of the thematic working group ‘Education’ on question asked by the organizers: ‘What would you change in the system of education today?’ One of the discussions during the event put in the focus of attention the question: is video tracking really needed in the kindergarten and schools and aren’t the harms from such an initiative bigger for the children, than the expected benefits concerning preventing of violence. The Network is to going out with a position against installation of video cameras in the classrooms, in which to reasonably expose arguments in support of work to build trust as a better and working alternative to the idea to install observation equipment. The participants in the Annual Meeting had opportunity to listen, discuss and express opinions on different topics of the Network. The principle of child participation had been respected with involving young people from the organizations members; the youth network ‘Megaphone’ and the National Eurochild Forum.
The Bulgarian Association for Family Planning and Sexual Health (BFPA) presented the results of a nationally representative survey conducted by KANTAR. The study took place in August 2022, among a sample of 836 people from the adult population and analyzed the measures that would positively affect the birth rate.
On November 11, 2022, the final conference of the ARIE project was held in Sofia. The project is supported by the Erasmus+ Sport program, led by the long-standing Italian partner of BFPA ANLAIDS – Lombardia. The rest of the participating organizations are from Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia. The activities are aimed at people living with HIV (PLHIV), the goal of the project is to develop and introduce a fitness program and an activity protocol for people living with HIV. In Bulgaria the project was coordinated by Boyan Mladenov from the BFPA team. Among the participants of the conference were health specialists, professors from medical universities, NGO partners, representatives of the target group. From the Bulgarian side the most outstanding was the presentation of Prof. Radka Argirova “HIV,Covid and Monkeypox - what more we have to know” The project aims to promote physical activity in the form of personalized guidelines among people between the ages of 18 and 50 who are living with HIV and who are on treatment, offering an innovative fitness protocol to engage them in moderate physical activity. This is the first project in Europe specifically targeting people living with HIV and fitness to promote a healthy lifestyle and add fitness protocols to HIV therapy.
In the last months of 2022 the partners of the YVYC project, together with experts and young people, developed recommendations for regional policy recommendations for improvement of health and social systems and SRHR services for young people after the Covid 19 pandemic. The recommendations are targeting decision-makers at international and national institutions. They were presented in the European Parliament on October 26, 2022 by young advocates and experts, with the support of MEP Fred Matic. Three BFPA representatives - Victoria Nikolova, Venelin Stoychev and Pavlina Filipova participated in the EP meeting.
Sofia, November 21, 2018
Plovdiv, October 20-21, 2018
Geneva, October 1-2, 2018
Sofia, September 12, 2018 
Sofia and the country, July 17, 2018
Tryavna, June 14-16, 2018
