The annual celebration of Roma Day brings together Roma communities, Roma and non-Roma academics and activists who are focused on advancing Roma rights and celebrating Roma culture. Roma Day is celebrated on April 8 since 1971.
In the past years, the Romani Studies Program and Harvard University have collaborated to develop annual programs for Roma Day. These collaborative programs focus on driving research and debates in Critical Romani Studies and building alliances while advancing Roma rights.
This year the programming included a conference, Legacies and Manifestations of Anti-Roma Racism in Health Policies, Practice, and Research at Harvard University. The one-day-long event held on April 6th was dedicated to exploring health gaps in the Roma communities. The conference had more than 20 speakers divided into two panels.
In the second panel titled “Anti-Roma Racism in Public Health and Medical Policies, Practice, and Research” Márton Rövid, RSP visiting professor also gave a presentation. In his presentation, “Researching and tackling anti-Roma racism in healthcare”, Márton Rövid spoke about healthcare inequities in health outcomes and access to services and what type of narrative shift is needed to address these inequities in the in the EU context.
In the conference, Edita Rigova, RGPP alumna from Slovakia also spoke. Edita is currently a visiting researcher at Harvard.
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