As part of the project “Strengthening resilience of older persons and persons with disabilities during COVID-19 and future crises” financed by the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency, and coordinated by the Red Cross of Serbia, a visit to partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina was implemented. In the period from December 13 to 16, 2022, representatives of the Red Cross of Serbia paid a monitoring visit to the partners: the Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the NGO Hajde.

The first day of the visit was a conference organized by the NGO Hajde and Hilfswerk International entitled “Sustainable strengthening of local health systems in the Western Balkans: Improving the health of older persons affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and transferring the knowledge of mobile care and support from Austria to the Western Balkans region”. At the conference, the representative of the Red Cross of Serbia, Nataša Todorović, spoke about the importance of informal caregivers and their role in long-term care, and that greater recognition of their contribution, their training, and a greater number of services in the community needed to enable better care for functionally dependent older persons people.

During the second day of the visit, Nataša Todorović, the project coordinator, and Dr. Milutin Vračević had a meeting with Žaklina Ninković, Azra Bričić, Edina Ahmagić and Haris Magrdžija from the Red Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina and discussed the achieved results and planned activities in the third year, as well as the challenges faced by the National Society. On the second day of the visit, the representatives of the Red Cross of Serbia met with Nina Jašarević and Nadina Pleh, representatives of the NGO Hajde, which implements part of the project related to advocacy for the introduction of long-term care services and healthy aging activities in partnership with the Centers for Healthy Aging. Representatives of the Red Cross of Serbia discussed with the partners all four components of the project: mental health and healthy aging, advocacy for long-term care services, financial assistance to vulnerable beneficiaries, and implementation of micro-projects at community level.