All Ireland Traveller Health Study Our Geels - Department of Health ...

All Ireland Traveller Health Study
Successful primary health care projects have emphasised a process that valued empowerment,
partnership and advocacy when designing and implementing health care interventions. This allows
the partners to highlight inequity and negotiate solutions with their relevant partners. Community
participation and intersectoral collaboration are key requisites for the success of Primary Health Care.
The following shows the application of these principles in the context of the PHCTP.
The initial Primary Health Care for Travellers Project (PHCTP) was established as a joint partnership
initiative with the Eastern Health Board (EHB) and Pavee Point. The project began as a pilot initiative in
October 1994 in the Finglas/Dunsink areas of Community Care Area 6, with funding from the Eastern
Health Board and had the following objectives:
• To establish a model of Traveller participation in the promotion of health.
• To develop the skills of Traveller women in providing community-based health services.
• To Liaise and assist in creating dialogue between Travellers and health service providers.
• To highlight gaps in health service delivery to Travellers and work towards reducing inequalities that
exists in established services (Pavee Point, 2006).
Community Participation
The approach inherent in the project was to work with the Traveller community in order to develop a
Primary Health Care Project that is based on the Traveller communities’ own values and perceptions,
and that will have long-term positive outcomes. In the context of the PHCTP, community participation
is a process through which Travellers gain greater control over the social, political, economic and
environmental factors that determine their health. Therefore the Traveller community participates in
every stage of the project: including the initial assessment of the situation, defining the main health
problems and issues, setting priorities for the project, implementing the activities, and monitoring and
evaluating the results.
Intersectoral Collaboration
For Primary Health Care to be effective there must be close collaboration between the Traveller
community, health workers, the health sector, the local authorities and a range of other statutory and
voluntary agencies. The PHCTP is a partnership project between Pavee Point and the Eastern Health
Board. It brought together different strengths and resources, with Travellers, Traveller culture and a
community development approach on one side, and resources, health skills, health services and health
knowledge on the other. This combination is essential for the effective implementation of a Primary
Health Care approach to the provision of health services.
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