Informing about sexual and reproductive health issues and overcoming traditional taboos and inequalities in understanding of these health issues

The idea of the project "Protecting Myself, Protecting Others" was aimed at informing and activating the community, especially young people, about reproductive health issues. Due to traditional taboos and inequalities in the understanding of reproductive health, as well as with all the consequences of neglecting health in middle-aged women, the project was created to inform and provide the opportunity to various social classes to gather around the same goal through the project.
The group was composed of various professionals: doctors-specialists, psychologists, social workers, and municipal employees, teachers in schools and young people and women. We organized visits to secondary schools in Sjenica, where the basic information and trainings on sexual and reproductive health was provided. During the implementation of this activity we mostly had discussions as a working technique, and in our activities which aimed to raise the awareness of students and women about the importance of the issue, the technique used  was the trainers’ input. After that, data collection was done for the database that was the first indicator in understanding this problem in our municipality.
The second part of the activity was to provide a free full gynaecological examination for middle-aged women who are at increased risk. We considered that a routine gynaecological examination is a good screening and prevention instrument. This activity was implemented in the Health Centre.