Programme for professional and social reintegration of people affected by Tuberculosis

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In Romania, 55 people are diagnosed with TB and 4 people die from this disease daily. Worldwide, tuberculosis kills and incapacitates more young people than any other infectious disease. Of those affected in Romania, 80% are of working age – between 15 and 45 years old, according to epidemiological reports provided by the “Marius Nasta” Institute of Pulmonology in Bucharest.

Proper treatment doubled by adequate social and psychological support, counseling and professional orientation for the TB patients as well as national stigma reduction and information campaigns could save Romania from a public health nightmare and would turn the former TB patients into healthy and active people.

“The programme for professional and social reintegration of people affected by Tuberculosis”, initiated by the Romanian Angel Appeal in partnership with Millennium Image & Communication Group aims to develop special services for psycho-social assistance, vocational guidance and counseling for people affected by tuberculosis, thus providing models of good practice, but equally, to properly inform the general public about tuberculosis, and to fight the discrimination and stigma against people with tuberculosis through a national campaign.

General objective of the project: to facilitate the access to employment for people affected by tuberculosis, at high socio-economic risk, through training and professional integration / reintegration and orientation in order to identify individualized job offers as well as counseling and social and psychological support.

Specific objectives:
•    To create, for the first time in Romania, a model of good practice for integrated multidisciplinary support services (medical, social and psychological) for TB patients, in a holistic and early approach of the social and professional integration needs for such persons;
•    To facilitate the access to professional integration of people affected by TB, through psychosocial counseling, and social support for their dependents and free qualification/ requalification courses;
•    To organize a national awareness campaign among the general population about the risks of TB and to reduce stigma and discrimination of people affected by TB.

Main activities:
•    Development of multidisciplinary care services in four regions of the country;
•    1000 social surveys to be conducted among people affected by TB and 1000 individualized intervention plans to be implemented;
•    Psycho-social support to be provided within the multidisciplinary services, for 1000 people affected by TB;
•    Financial support during treatment for 1,000 patients and family members;
•    Counseling / orientation for access on the labor market for 500 people affected by TB and training / qualification/ requalification for 150 people affected, including subsidies for the entire period of training;
•    A national information campaign targeting the general population about the risk of developing TB as well as to reduce stigma and discrimination of people with tuberculosis.

The Programme for professional and social reintegration of people affected by Tuberculosis has an implementation period of 15 months and is co-financed by the European Social Fund, through The Sectorial Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007-2013 – “Investing in people!”