Intervention team of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, representatives of the government and staff of the contributory organisation of the Ministry of Health Healthy regions organised a pilot action on the presence of antibodies to the new coronavirus in the blood as a priority in municipalities with marginalized Roma communities on 26 June 28 November 2020. This activity also highlighted the practices that municipalities, regional public health authorities and local residents can use at the time of the new Coronavirus pandemic.
Contribution organisation of the Ministry of Health Since March 2020, healthy regions have been analysing data on pandemic development, focusing on marginalised Roma communities where a pandemic can affect the life of both the community and the whole community. Assistants and coordinators of this organisation are in close contact with municipalities, regional public health authorities and help to find close contacts, provide awareness and service in households that are currently in isolation. In the current period, all steps towards effective and effective prevention and protection of the health of the population are important, including in marginalised Roma communities. To provide qualified information on the importance of maintaining isolation and at the same time protecting the most vulnerable members of households in settlements is one of the missions of Healthy Regions, for which it is thanks to organisers as well as to all people on the ground. The results of the weekend pilot action are encouraging and proving to be effective. stated Minister of Health Marek Krajčí. The intervention team of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic in cooperation with the management of municipalities and employees of Health regions worked in the three municipalities of Prešov region, namely Bardejov, Sabinov and Poprad. In particular, field experts focused on identifying those who have already experienced the disease and on obtaining evidence for the development of optimal procedures for controlling the spread of the epidemic in these locations.
Screening testing of residents of local marginalised Roma communities for the presence of antibodies against the new coronavirus in the blood was crucial. It is these antibodies that will provide an indication of whether the person has overcome the infection and at the same time provide immunity to the disease for a certain period of time. Voluntary testing using antibody rapid tests focused on the population aged over six years. It was preceded by an information campaign directly in marginalized Roma communities, involving health professionals from the intervention team of the Ministry of Health and local field workers. All tests in which IgG class antibodies were detected received a certificate of the result confirmed by the infectologist on the spot. Participation ranged between about a quarter and two thirds of the local population over the age of six, while the population of marginalised Roma communities perceived testing as a useful and useful service. The test results confirm that infrastructure, economic and social conditions in marginalised Roma communities may increase the risk of pandemic spread in this environment if an epidemic penetrates it. However, there is currently about half of marginalised Roma communities, especially in southern districts of Slovakia, without any signs of virus spread. An important test report is that the assumption of the number of antibody subjects in marginalized Roma communities, the previous data of which indicated that they have a high incidence of infection (antigen positivity of more than 10% in the first screening trials with high participation of test subjects) has been confirmed. In the three municipalities tested, the percentage of individuals with IgG antibodies was 52.6%, 56.5% and 24.5%. Testing revealed that up to a third of people did not know that they had overcome COVID-19, which confirms a high rate of non-symptom progression. This finding shows that most people with antibodies are protected in the coming months and should not be infected with the virus. At the same time, they do not endanger their surroundings.Another good news is the helpfulness with which the inhabitants of marginalised Roma communities themselves accepted the whole event, testing and certification. The confirmation of the presence of antibodies for these people as well as the representatives of the municipality is a pass from further testing or quarantine measures. Both families and loved ones will be able to communicate more safely with each other. At the same time, space is being opened for more economical, targeted and secure
supporting both preventive measures and health interventions for those households whose members have not yet encountered the epidemic, stressed Director of the Contribution Organisation Healthy regions of Tatiana Hustič.This pilot action also shows that the correct choice of the tested parameter plays an important role in different epidemiological scenarios. According to its results, targeted tools will be chosen to address the situation in marginalised Roma communities and municipalities. The results of the pilot action will be dealt with by the expert consensus of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, as well as by the working group on marginalized Roma communities at the Pandemic Commission. State contributory organisation of the health sector Healthy regions have been active in the health of disadvantaged groups for a long time and are now fully engaged in preventive, control and protection measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organisation implements National project Healthy 2B communities thanks to support from the European Social Fund under the Human Resources Operational Programme.