Health

Health and the accessibility of health care is an area that greatly impacts the quality of man’s life. Comparative studies of the Roma and non-Roma population show that there are a lot more health risk factors in the Roma population. Various indicators show their poor health status, e.g. higher level of vitamin deficiency, malnutrition, anaemia, dystrophy, infectious diseases.

The research of health inequality shows that the life expectancy of the Roma people is 10–15 years lower than that of the majority population; in some European countries, the mortality of the Roma people is three times higher than average. The most common reasons for the poor health condition of the Roma people correlate with poor economic and living conditions, low educational attainment and also badly developed life skills – one of them is also care for health.

At the European level, there were a few studies conducted in the time period 2004–2012 that tried to determine health condition of the Roma population.

In 2014, the Roma Health Report, Health status of the Roma population – data collection in the Member States of the European Union was published. One third of the interviewed Roma people aged between 35 and 54 years had health issues which also limited their everyday activities. Around 20% of the Roma did not have health insurance, 66% of the Roma cannot afford the prescribed medicines (in comparison to 29% of the majority population), 15% of Roma children younger than 14 were unvaccinated. 

Foto: The Health of Foreign Romani Children in Italy, available at: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/cf/39/3b/cf393b69a311df89dc5900ba34941ac6.jpg

References:

• European Commission, 2014, Roma Health Report, Health status of the Roma population Data collection in the Member States of the European Union [online], available at:  http://ec.europa.eu/health/social_determinants/docs/2014_roma_health_report_en.pdf