Helpful Resources Romania Program Tools and Resources AIHA Constanta (Romania)/Louisville (Kentucky) Partnership (external link)

The primary goal of the Constanta (Romania)/Louisville (Kentucky) partnership was to promote community involvement to improve women's health. Partners conducted a community-wide assessment in Constanta to identify perceptions and concerns related to women’s health and the top three health concerns that emerged were sexually transmitted infections, domestic violence, and family planning.

In response, the Romanian partners created an interdisciplinary commission on domestic violence
to develop strategies for combating abuse and stigma in Constanta. They launched a series of domestic violence awareness campaigns and asked citizens to answer simple questions about their knowledge about—and attitudes toward—domestic violence.

Partners opened the Constanta Office for Women on December 1, 2000, to advocate on behalf of women, provide a voice in the legislative process, and support community health promotion activities. The Office for Women—which continues to operate today thanks to funding from the Constanta County Council and other donors, including their former partners at the Humana Foundation in Louisville—houses a domestic violence hotline and a walk-in referral center for victims of domestic violence. The Romanian partners have been working to effect policy changes at the Ministry of Health and to institute a country-wide domestic violence program based on the model initiated through the Healthy Communities process in Constanta.

Partners developed another committee comprised of an STI specialist, family practitioners, teachers, youth representatives, the epidemiological statistical department from the Constanta Health Authority, the school inspectorate and medical school to focus on sexually-transmitted diseases. The STI Steering Committee and teens participated in numerous train-the-trainer workshops to educate the public about STIs. Students hold peer workshops in high schools to explain how STIs are transmitted and share prevention strategies. Family practitioners in Constanta received training on the proper techniques for screening and collecting information on STI cases. Together with the US partners, they developed a unique reporting form which was pre-tested and approved by the Constanta Insurance House to be used by all family practitioners in Constanta County.

The Constanta partners, with the support of their US colleagues, established the Constanta Community Foundation with approval from the Constanta Court of Justice. The Foundation has created a Board and a scope of activities and is charged with supporting Constanta's Healthy Communities programs. In addition to supporting the partners' domestic violence and STI initiatives, the Community Foundation also developed a Tobacco Prevention Program for high school students supported by a grant from the US Health Care Leadership Council Foundation.

Tools and Resources:

• Women’s Health Needs Assessment Survey (in Romanian)
• Women's Health Focus Group Results
• Constanta/Louisville Partnership Poster "Healthy Women, Healthy Community" (pictured above)

Additional Reading:

• International Partnership for Change: The Louisville, KY / Constanta, Romania Healthy Communities Experience, "A Work in Progress" presentation
• Impact of the Healthy Communities Partnership: Empowering Women's Health in Constanta, Romania (PowerPoint presentation; also in PDF format)
• CEE Conference Disseminates Healthy Communities Successes (AIHA CommonHealth, Winter 1998)
• Healthy Communities Dissemination Conference Stress Mobilization, Empowerment (AIHA Connections, November 2002)
• Healthy Cities Start from Healthy Communities: AIHA Partners Share Experience in Empowering Health Promotion and Social Safety (AIHA Connections, December 2003)