Bulgaria

Since 2004, Médecins du Monde has been working in the segregated neighbourhood of Nadezhda, an area that is physically cut off from the city of Sliven by urban infrastructure and the River Asenovska. Nadezhda is home to around 11% of the population of Sliven, which is the seventh largest city in Bulgaria with a population of about 83,000.

Some people in Nadezhda live in extremely precarious conditions: 73% have no bathroom, 66% have no toilet and many don’t have access to electricity or even drinking water. Unsanitary housing, lack of regular water supply, lack of waste management and widespread pollution encourage parasites and rodents and the spread of vector-borne diseases.

Services are very limited and the divide between the Nadezhda neighbourhood and the rest of the city is yet another form of discrimination, on top of what the inhabitants already face as members of the Roma community. Ambulances refuse to go to certain parts of Nadezhda due to the lack of roads and room to manoeuvre and also because there is very little dialogue with the inhabitants.

Médecins du Monde works in Sliven and in the Nadezhda neighbourhood to ensure that women and girls have better access to information, gynaecological consultations and contraception, in order to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

In 2024, we provided advice on sexual and reproductive health and rights to 1,330 women and girls and organised 176 health education sessions. In addition, 457 women and girls were referred for gynaecological consultations.