Kyustendil-Pernik-Radomir-Sofia, July-August, 2021
During the period July-August 2021, 42 young people from Kyustendil, Pernik, Radomir and Sofia took part in 6 focus groups in a study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of services and care in the field of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Different groups of young people, young mothers and pregnant women were involved. Some of the groups were with participants from the Roma community.
The aim was to examine the needs, challenges and difficulties faced by young people during the pandemic and to give them the opportunity to propose ideas for improving various health services.
The young people offered diverse and interesting solutions to ensure continuous and easy access to SRH counselling, treatment and support, such as mobile services, informational portals, online consultations, digital maps of pharmacies for health packages, information campaigns and more. The conclusions and recommendations of the study, both for Bulgaria and for the partners in the other four countries of the project, will be published by the end of the year. They will predetermine the types of field work interventions that we will plan and implement in the coming year and a half.
The study is part of the activities in the first year of the international project "Youth voices, youth choices" (2021-2023) with the financial support of the socially responsible business program of the pharmaceutical company MSD. The project is implemented in Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association (BFPA), and partner organizations from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Macedonia are implementing similar initiatives in their countries.
