Twinning Bulgaria: Defining a Communication Plan for More Efficient Management of Healthcare Emergencies

 
Under the Twinning Project “Restructuring of Pilot Multi-profile Hospitals and Developing of Emergency Medical Care with a view to Improve Access to Healthcare for Vulnerable Groups of People with a Special Focus on Roma”, a mission to Sofia was organized. The leading structure of the project is the Andalusian School of Public Health in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Health, while the activities were jointly carried out by two Formez experts and three Spanish functionaries (two doctors and one expert in public communication).
The work was conducted through participative methods with the involvement of the Bulgarian beneficiaries from the Ministry of Health whose representatives were requested to outline the problems regarding emergency management in the field of public health. The initial phase of sharing allowed for the identification of key strengths and weaknesses of the Bulgarian system. Particular attention was paid on assessing how disadvantaged minorities, primarily Roma and Turkish minorities, as well as the elderly and the inhabitants of small built-up areas in remote regions throughout the country use the national health system. The analysis highlighted that these people and more in general, Bulgarian citizens have a negative approach to public health. As a matter of fact, the use of medical aids is scarce due to a diffused lack of trust which hinders the realization of effective activities of health prevention in Bulgaria. Citizens directly address to first aid structures also when there is no real need. Obviously, the latter cannot fulfil so many requests at once and arrange for the hospitalization of such a high number of patients.
On the basis of this analysis, the principle guidelines of a communication plan have been drafted which will be subsequently implemented by the Bulgarian ministry and diffused at national level to improve the methods for using the health system. Target groups, institutional bodies and private stakeholders have been identified as well as the content to be conveyed, ad-hoc communication methods and means for each target group and the actions to be carried out under the plan.
The mission was included in the final phase of the project and concluded with a discussion meeting regarding the work carried out by Bulgarian beneficiaries and Italian and Spanish experts.