The health ministry said this week it had secured an additional €3m to its budget in order to ensure the supply of new and innovative drugs for the treatment of Hepatitis C, Amyloidosis and Multiple Sclerosis, and for the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer for all girls aged 12 of age. The health ministry said there were a number of new drugs on the market for these conditions that bring better results for patients and these would be imported for public hospitals. For HPV the free vaccine programme would begin on 1 January, 2016. Meanwhile, the latest reduction in medicine prices of 8.5% on average came into effect on Monday 29 June. The ministry said that with the latest reduction, drugs prices had fallen 23% over the past six months. The ministry said that the wholesale price of antibiotics has dropped over 30% and cholesterol medications by over 40%.
Croatia: 4 July gay pride parade
03 Jul 2015A Gay Pride parade will be held in Zagreb Saturday. Participants will walk under the slogan Louder and Braver: Anti-fascism - Without Compromise. LGBTIQ persons will send out a message that they are not taking part in the parade only as lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans-gender, inter-sexual and questioning persons, but as citizens who will not stand by and watch in silence the wheel of history going back. The organisers expect two thousand people to join them. They are using the façade of ‘gay rights’ and then highlighting their dissatisfaction and concern about the political situation in the country and are dedicating the event to the citizens of Croatia. ‘As long as there are people incessantly calling for war, we will fight for a society of peace, co-existence and solidarity. We must stop further political, economic and moral destruction of society. The response to radicalisation and hatred must be a single voice of a broad, united progressive front,’ said the organisers. Left-wing, centre-left, and green political parties are proponents of LGBT rights, while right-wing, centre-right political parties and some NGOs and the Roman Catholic Church oppose LGBT rights. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Croatia
Bulgaria: Trafficking in human beings
03 Jul 2015Some 500-550 Bulgarians a year become victims of human trafficking, according to official statistics, cited Bulgaria’s National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. On Monday 29th there was a press conference to launch a project aimed at fighting human trafficking. The project envisages the training of a large number of officials from the law enforcement and security institutions and courts and will acquaint people involved in the fight against human trafficking with specific aspects of the problem. Human trafficking is a cross-border crime and requires joint efforts by Bulgaria and all other EU countries. Currently large numbers of human traffickers are handed suspended sentences, causing victims to give up on reporting cases to the police. (in 2014 92 people were convicted of human trafficking and 60% ended with suspended sentences). The most common profile of a victim is a young woman from a region with high unemployment and poverty.
Bosnia: Challenges for Prayer
03 Jul 2015The largest religion in Bosnia is Islam with 2,036,217; followed by Christians with 1,540,698 and Evangelicals numbering 2,207. Expatriate Christian input is definitely needed for believers in Bosnia to have a greater impact and there are many ways to impact the nation. Operation World asks us to pray that those engaged in leadership development, aid, rehabilitation, outreach and church planting ministries might fully identify with the people, and that through these a harvest may be won. The largest agencies: Pioneers, OM, Novi Most International and TE use creative means of sharing Christ’s love including the Alpha Course, house construction and repairs, ESL and German-language acquisition. There are also handicrafts, coffee bars, sports and camps, youth ministries and, most strategically, prayer and intercession – the foundation for all other ministry.
Belgium: Christian outreach
03 Jul 2015There are a variety of mission agencies working in Belgium who need our prayers. OMF has nine Chinese churches and the AoG has one couple working among the Chinese. BEM has a Japanese couple working within the Japanese community and have planted a Japanese church. A number of other Asian communities (Korean, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, Iranian, Filipino) have at least one church each. The Eastern European population is rapidly growing – Poles, Russians, Bulgarians, Kosovars, Romanians and others. Only the Romanians have a significant number of evangelical congregations; the Polish and Kosovars have none. There is little or no outreach to these peoples. There is a student population of over 250,000 in 17 universities and numerous colleges. Outreach to the student community is a major challenge. IFES has a ministry in seven Flemish universities (Ichthus with 150 students involved) and in several French universities. The small work grows very slowly. (Source: Operation World 2015)
Belarus: Persecution of Christians
03 Jul 2015Open Doors reports Belarus as the last surviving dictatorship in Europe. The government allows almost no political opposition. The Orthodox Church is the only officially recognised denomination with unregistered religious activity resulting in imprisonment or heavy fines. Unregistered churches are monitored by the secret police and violent raids occur frequently. Please pray for the pastors whose churches are being monitored to have courage and perseverance and for a change in the government's attitude to Christianity. The law prohibits religious organisations from providing religious education for children and from carrying out religious activity beyond the vicinity where the organisation is registered. Church registration is a tedious, expensive, if not impossible process. Many churches have to wait several years to register.
Austria: Discrimination against Christians
03 Jul 2015In a new report, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination expressed ‘serious concerns’ regarding the human rights situation in Austria for Christians. They found a ‘very high’ incidence of vandalism and burglary at Christian sites and denounced widespread anti-Christian discrimination and abuses against freedom of expression, assembly and conscientious objection. Dr. Gudrun Kugler, the director of the Observatory, told Breitbart News that in recent years there has been a shift both in public policy and the reigning popular mentality that has made life for Christians increasingly difficult. ‘Ever more restrictive laws are squeezing religious freedom, while society itself is growing more and more intolerant of biblical Christianity,’ she said. The many instances of desecration include destroying crucifixes, candle holders, paintings and statues; plus arson and burglary and graffiti such as ‘death to priests’ scrawled on walls. The Observatory criticised the use of Austria’s stalking laws to prevent prayer in front of abortion clinics, a move upheld by the state court of Graz, Styria.
Andorra: Dependency on tourism
03 Jul 2015Long isolated and impoverished, mountainous Andorra has achieved considerable prosperity since World War II through its tourist industry. Many immigrants (legal and illegal) are attracted to the thriving economy with its lack of income taxes. A conference this week (29 June ) in Andorra organised by the United Nations World Tourism Organization said that as political turmoil continues to spread across North Africa and other parts of the Arab world, countries in Southern Europe are drawing more visitors and witnessing a rebound in tourism. A delegate stated, ‘The events in North Africa will accelerate a recovery that was already underway thanks to price cuts.’ However they were not to consider this period of improvement as evidence of what the future will look like because when countries become more democratic, they tend to get more tourist-friendly and next year could in fact see a reversal, when Egypt and others bounce back with aggressive approaches on pricing, and Andorra and other countries could then lose out. See also http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/andorra.htm