3. Romania: Country Profile (2)
Working population: 46% women; 54%men
GDP per capita: 3970 USD
Health care expenditure: 2.6% of the GDP
Population per doctor: 554
Hospital beds per 100,000 population: 728
Inflation rate: 60%
Unemployment rate: 11.3%
4. Life expectancy of Romanians
at birth (in years), 1970-2000
66.7 66.6 66.8
73.9
72.7
70.4
1970 1990 2000 men women
5. Mortality by main death causes and
gender (per 100,000 population)
Women Men
Cardiovascular
diseases
714 689
Cancer 151 218
Respiratory
diseases
52 81
Digestive diseases 48 81
External causes 30 100
Infectious diseases 7 21
7. Population Policies and Reproductive
Rights under Socialist State
1957-1966: women viewed as primarily economic
resources: free access to abortion
contraceptive use was not encouraged
1966-1989: women viewed as primarily reproductive
resources
access to legal abortion restricted to:
- women over 45 years of age, or women
who had at least five children
- modern methods of contraception banned
- taxes on childless couples/unmarried
people
8. WOMEN NARRATIVES (1)
“As a woman I had to learn not only to cook, to sew, and to raise
my children, but also how to induce an abortion” (unskilled worker,
mother of three).
“I made a catheter using an electric cable from which I extracted
the metal wires. I tried several times to insert it by myself and
finally succeeded” (kindergarten teacher, mother of three).
“Nobody and nothing could stop me in my making the decision to
get rid of my pregnancy. I assumed all risks involved; I did what
I felt I should do for my family, to bring up my children” (factory
worker, mother of two).
12. WOMEN NARRATIVES (2)
“The right to abortion was gained at the expense of
thousands of women’s lives, who died during the
Ceausescu regime, as well as with the blood of those
who died during the December 1989 revolution” (37-
year-old, engineer, mother of one).
“I do not make a plea for abortions, but it is a human
right that must be respected. Especially in Romania!
The young generation does not know what it was like,
to be afraid every time you made love” (46-year-old,
physicist, mother of one).
13. Romanian Women who had Abortions,
by Socio-Economic Status (1999)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Rural
poor
Urban
poor
Lower
middle
class
Middle
class
Wealthy
rural
Upper
middle
urban
Urban
rich
Percentage
Women had two or more abortions
Women who had one abortion
14. WOMEN NARRATIVES (3)
”It is better to choose abortion over abandoning a child you cannot
afford to bring up" (33-year-old, nurse, mother of two).
“I never thought I did something wrong when aborting. I am
confident that God understands what I was doing and I am not
afraid of His curse” (49-year-old, factory worker, mother of three).
“Abortion is a necessary evil” (33-year-old, homemaker, mother of two).
“There is a big difference between wanting children and being able
to provide them with a decent living” (37-year-old, chemist, mother of
two).
17. Current Contraceptive Use by
Romanian Women (1999)
Non-users
36%
Traditional
35%
Modern
29%
Condoms 9%
Pills 7%
IUD 7%
Spermicides 3%
Tubal ligation 3%
Withdrawal 29%
Rhythm 6%
18. WOMEN NARRATIVES (4)
“These modern pills never interested me; they do good
in one respect and they are harmful in 10 others” (29-
year-old, married mother of two, factory worker).
“I don’t believe that modern contraception methods are
as efficient as they are said to be. If it’s given that
you should have a child, you cannot get rid of it,
regardless of all these modern methods” (42-year-old,
office clerk, mother of two).
19. Cervical Cancer Rates
(per 100,000 women)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Romania
EU average
CEE average
Note: EU=European Union;
CEE=Central and Eastern Europe (excluding Romania)
20. Incidence of syphilis in
Romania (1985-2000)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 2000
Syphilis
Numberofcasesper
21. Physical and Sexual Abuse
(%) 1999
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
lifetime abuse abuse within the
last year
verbal
physical
sexual
22. Policy Barriers
Inadequate resources
Inefficient procurement
Ineffective targeting
Limited access in rural areas
Limited sexual education
23. Improving reproductive
health (1)
Improve targeting of the public sector FP services
and commodities
Include low cost contraceptives in the health
insurance
Train and allow family doctors to provide FP
commodities, particularly in rural areas
Support the growth of NGOs for wider coverage
24. Improving reproductive
health (2)
• Promote male as well as female rights to RH
services
• Design RH education programs for female
and males
– In school
– In health centers
– In the community
• Strengthen male component of FP services
25. REFFERENCES
Baban, A. and David, H.P. (1994) Voices of
Romanian Women: Perceptions of Sexuality,
Reproductive Behavior and Partner Relations
During the Ceausescu Era. Bethesda, MD:
Transnational Family Research Institute.
David, H.P. (1999) From Abortion to
Contraception; a Resource to Public Policies
and Reproductive Behavior in Central and
Eastern Europe from 1917 to the Present.
Westport: Greenwood Press.
Gal, S. and Kligman, G. (2000) Reproducing
Gender; Politics, Publics and Everyday Life
after Socialism. Princeton: Princeton
University
Press.
Johnson, B.R., Horga, M. and Andronache, L.
(1993) Contraception and abortion in
Romania.
Lancet, 341: 875-78.
Lindmark, G., Horga, M., Campana, A. and
Kasonde, J. (1999) Towards Better
Reproductive Health in Eastern Europe.
Budapest: CEU Press.
Kligman, G. (1998) The Politics of Duplicity:
Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu’s
Romania. Berkeley: University of California
Press.
Serbanescu, F., Morris, L. and Marin, M.
(2001)
Reproductive Health Survey: Romania, 1999.
Atlanta: DHR/CDC.
XXXX (2001) Policy Report: A Family
Planning
Market Segmentation Analysis. Bucharest
XXXX (2001) National Center of Statistics
Report. Bucharest.
XXXX (1999) Highlights on Health in
Romania.
Hinweis der Redaktion
We have ascertained that there are 5 important policy barriers to the implementation of Romania’s contraceptive security policies. These barriers are: inadequate funding, inefficient procurement, ineffective targeting, unsustainable revolving funds, and limited access to government subsidized contraceptives in rural areas.
We have ascertained that there are 5 important policy barriers to the implementation of Romania’s contraceptive security policies. These barriers are: inadequate funding, inefficient procurement, ineffective targeting, unsustainable revolving funds, and limited access to government subsidized contraceptives in rural areas.