Enough is enough: Time to break the circle of Roma health exclusion across Europe

The need for better policies and funding for Roma inclusion, with an emphasis
on local integration in Eastern Europe, is the focus of the Third Roma Summit –
a landmark event organised today by the European Commission in Brussels.

After decades of revisiting the same issue, it is high time that the EU and
its Member States got serious in tackling the factors that trap Roma populations
in a cycle of ill-health and socio-economic marginalisation.

With an estimated 10-12 million population, the Roma represents Europe’s
largest ethnic group. The Roma are one of the most disadvantaged communities
living in the region. Most face discrimination and lack access to basic services
such as education, healthcare, water, sanitation and housing – not to mention
adequate working opportunities, conditions and wages. As a result, the Roma in
Europe suffer worse health and a lower life expectancy than the rest of the
general population.

"The discrimination and exclusion that Roma face everyday does not disappear
at a doctor’s door," said Maja Saitovic Jovanovic, Program Coordinator with the
Open Society Foundations. "When Roma are segregated from other patients, coerced
into sterilisation, or given substandard treatment, all Europeans are degraded,"
pointed out Mrs Saitovic Jovanovic.

Being cut off from health services has a hard impact on Roma children and
women.“Newborn deaths among Roma in Europe are several-fold higher than the rate
of their neighbours. On top of this, levels of antenatal and postnatal
healthcare, as well as infant and mother mortality rates for Roma communities in
many European countries are disheartening,” noted Sebihana Skenderovska, Health
Programme Coordinator at the Macedonian National Roma Centrum.

“An instrument largely overlooked by EU Member States and Brussels in
advancing Roma’s access to community services are the Roma Health Mediators,”
said Marius Radulescu, Coordinator at the Romanian Roma Center for Health Policy
(SASTIPEN). “In Romania, a hasty decentralisation process and a lack of coherent
legislation are holding up the implementation of the country’s Roma Health
Mediation Programme. As result, local authorities refuse to hire these mediators,
as in many cases, they do not even understand the mediator’s role,” pointed out
Mr Radulescu.

With the occasion of this summit, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
has today published its position on Roma Health in Europe. “This paper rings
alarm bells. While EU Member States bear the lion’s share of responsibility in
implementing Roma integration policies at the national and local level, the
European Commission has at its disposal numerous tools to help break the circle
of Roma exclusion and enforce EU legislation on anti-discrimination and equal
treatment,” commented Zoltán Massay-Kosubek, Policy Coordinator at EPHA.