- 46 - Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, following his visit to France from 21 to 23 May 2008, found that the Roma in France have little access to medical care in practice (see Memorandum by Thomas Hammarberg, commDH(2008)34, 20 November 2008, §151). 144. The Committee considers that the state has failed to meet its positive obligation to ensure that migrant Roma, whatever their residence status, including children, enjoy an adequate access to health care, in particular by failing to take reasonable steps to address the specific problems faced by Roma communities stemming from their often unhealthy living conditions and difficult access to health services. 145. The Committee therefore holds that there is a violation of Article E taken in conjunction with Article 11§1. Alleged violation of Article E taken in conjunction with Article 11§2 by reason of a lack of information and awareness-raising for the migrant Roma and of counseling and screening on health issues A – Submissions of the parties 1. The complainant organisation 146. Médecins du Monde underlines the lack of information provided by the public authorities to the migrant Roma on, on the one hand, their rights and, on the other hand, the organisation of the health system, resulting in a failure to respect their right to health protection as enshrined in Article 11§2. Médecins du Monde stresses that the only instances to take such an action are voluntary associations and nearly never the public authorities. This results in a high level of misunderstanding between health professionals and the Roma population. 147. According to Médecins du Monde, women's health is a particular cause for concern, above all from the standpoint of mother and child health, including multiple unsupervised pregnancies, repeated abortions with no follow up, and negligence in the use of contraceptives. Médecins du Monde finds that in Ile-de-France, only one roma woman in ten is monitored during her pregnancy and also only one roma woman in ten of childbearing age uses contraception. It adds that prevention of childhood illnesses and rickets is very fragmentary. 2. The Government 148. The Government refers to the emergency care fund, which offers a means of tackling the most serious health problems such as the health of pregnant women and childhood illnesses. According to the circular DHOS/DSS/DGAS No. 2005-141 of

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