Religion is an integral part of the life of believers. In our society religion is intertwined with tradition, family values and cultural heritage. The research shows that most of the citizens in the Republic of Macedonia define themselves as believers (91%), but if we go into a detailed analysis, we will see that they are traditional believers without expert knowledge in the field of religion, but do not fully adhere to religious principles and practices. Understanding the religion among the traditional believers comes down to respecting the tradition and religious rituals and generosity rituals, nurtured with ages. After the Republic of Macedonia declared its independence, a long period of revitalization of religion began, that was characterized by a change in the religious system, the secularization of religion, the rapprochement of the political and religious elite, the attempts to introduce religious education.
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has lead North Macedonia into a serious social and economic crisis. The paper discusses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the formulation of the national social security policy and legal framework, in line with international standards based on human rights treaties. Crucial social security measures in the country particularly give the pressure on health protection, unemployment, family and child support. The evaluation will focus on the adopted and new policy measures for social security. An important question is does the North Macedonian social security system is well established to protect workers from social risks during a pandemic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some workers who lost jobs might rely on unemployment compensation. So, the focus of this paper is on the challenges of the social security system from large-scale disruptions such as COVID-19. The paper ends with a summary of the main policy measures and an outlook where further research is needed. It concludes that during and after the pandemic the social security policy will be more important than ever.
Ensuring children's rights and family well-being is a priority of every European country. The Republic of North Macedonia, as a candidate country of the European Union, shares the same family values and family policies as the remaining EU member states. However, despite the past governmental efforts in the area of legal harmonization, several gaps have to be fulfilled and policies to be improved to achieve efficient institutions at the European level. To expand existing policies regarding family support, we consider crucial the analysis of the factual situation in the country, as a basic step towards further research. Therefore, this paper aims to initially provide an analysis of the family support legal framework of the country. Secondly, we intend to map governmental and non-governmental institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia which is responsible to provide family, children, and parents' support. By doing so, we can develop additionally omitted family policies or improve existing ones. Finally, the paper will present a list of competencies of the employees of family support institutions to evaluate more peculiarly their staff's skills standards.
Adolescent pregnancy is a problem that societies face, regardless of the level of development. Despite the availability of information and the availability of contraception, as well as the right to an abortion that is guaranteed in most modern societies, countries face many cases of adolescent pregnancies. Pregnancy in the period of adolescence irreversibly changes the lives of minors. It has an influence on their health, their education, social life and their future as adults. Also, the families of the under-aged parents are directly affected by the consequences, disrupting the functionality of the family.
In a wider sense, the health system and social functioning are burdened in their entirety. Therefore, it's important to prevent adolescent pregnancies. Contraception is the primary protection against unwanted pregnancy and insufficient and inconsistent application of contraception, as well as the lack of information among young people about the available methods of contraception, can be one of the main causes of adolescent pregnancies. Integrated sexuality education for adolescents can be a great benefit to educate adolescents about risk factors of pregnancy in early life. The influence of parents is crucial in the prevention of adolescent pregnancy. This paper's intention is to analyses the current situation on this topic, through available indicators on birth rates, maternal and children mortality worldwide. Qualitative research conducted between the student (18-22), should give more information about the use of contraception between young people, their opinion about the importance of contraception… Important questions are: Are they well informed about contraception; are the contraception products available; Are they feel free enough to talk with their parents on those topics..etc.
Key words: Adolescents, Pregnancy, Adolescent Pregnancy, Teenagers, Family, Contraception.
