Improvement of the working conditions of health visitors active in Roma communities

Health care visitor nurses are professionals working in primary care, performing public health and education related tasks. They are present from the post-natal period till school leaving age in children’s lives. As the name stipulates, they visit family homes, schools and communal places. They not only monitor the biological development of children, but advise parents how to keep on the right track. Currently, there are 5300 health care visitor nurses working in Hungary, out of whom 4005 allocated to respective service districts and 1007 to schools.
In most disadvantageous areas they work alone without guidance, support or technical supervision. In extreme cases, they even undertake confrontation in conflicts without any help. The latter particularly stands for visitor nurses working in extremely depressed areas. In addition, they also have to carry the burden of administrating their own work, causing further difficulties. The equipment they can use, are predominantly outdated, and they are short of efficient IT tools.