The decade of Roma Inclusion: did it make a difference to health and use of health care services?

János Sándor,Julianna Boros,Klára Boruzs,Ildikó Tokaji,Róza Ádány,Martin Mckee,Zsigmond Kósa

doi:10.1007/s00038-017-0954-9

Abstract

ObjectivesWe investigated whether the severely disadvantaged health of Hungarian Roma adults living in segregated settlements changed by the Decade of Roma Inclusion program.MethodsWe compared the results of two paired health interview surveys that we carried out using the same methodology before and after the Decade, on the general Hungarian and Roma populations.ResultsSelf-perceived health status of younger Roma worsened, while it improved among older Roma. Reported experience of discrimination reduced considerably and health care utilization improved in general. Positive changes in smoking and nutrition, and negative changes in alcohol consumption and overweight were observed. Many of observed changes can plausibly be linked to various government policies, including a quadrupling of public works expenditure, banning smoking in public places, restricting marketing of tobacco products, increasing cigarette prices, and a new tax on unhealthy foods. Liberalization of rules on alcohol distillation coincided with worsening alcohol consumption.ConclusionsWe have shown that Roma remain severely disadvantaged and present an innovative sampling method which can be used to monitor changes in groups where identification is a challenge.

Highlights

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.The original version of this article was revised: The author given and family names were incorrectly identified in the original version and the names are corrected here.Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe, with estimates of their numbers ranging from 10 to 12 million, most living in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (European Commission 2011)
The decade of Roma Inclusion: did it make a difference to health and use of health care services?
Approximately 62,000 persons lived in the Roma settlements in these counties

Summary

Introduction

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00038-017-0954-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.The original version of this article was revised: The author given and family names were incorrectly identified in the original version and the names are corrected here.Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe, with estimates of their numbers ranging from 10 to 12 million, most living in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (European Commission 2011). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00038-017-0954-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. The original version of this article was revised: The author given and family names were incorrectly identified in the original version and the names are corrected here. Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe, with estimates of their numbers ranging from 10 to 12 million, most living in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (European Commission 2011). On the margins of society, in segregated settlements with poor housing and few amenities, excluded from mainstream education and the labour market. Many studies have noted their poor health and high levels of unmet health need and impaired access to care (Arora et al 2016; Cook et al 2013; Hajioff and McKee 2000)

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Conclusion