Roma represent one of the largest ethnic groups facing marginalization worldwide. However, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding: A) the social mechanisms supporting health-endangering practices among Roma; B) the social mechanisms adversely affecting their use of health services; and C) the social determinants underlying both above pathways. To fill these gaps, we conducted a series of four explorative ethnographic studies spanning over ten years. Beginning in 2004, the series involved 260 participants, including segregated Roma and health services staff in Slovakia. Of the four studies, two addressed gap A, two addressed gap B, and all addressed gap C. Regarding pathway A, we found that Roma in segregated Roma enclaves can be socialized into ethnically framed racialized ideologies that oppose the cultural standards of local non-Roma life, including certain healthy practices. This adherence to counter-cultural ideals of Roma identity increases specific health and care challenges. Regarding pathway B, we discovered that health service frontliners frequently lack any organizational support to better understand and accommodate the current living conditions and practices of segregated Roma, as well as their own and others' racism and professional expectations regarding equity. This lack of support leads many frontliners to become cynical about segregated Roma over their careers, resulting in health services being less effective and exacerbating health problems for both Roma and the frontliners themselves. Concerning pathway C, we found that the societal omnipresence of antigypsyism - racist and racialized anti-Roma ideas and sentiments - serves as a prominent driver of both the above pathways. We conclude that much of the unfavorable health status of Roma can be understood via a systems perspective that embraces structural racism.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- kulturní antropologie * metody MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- rasismus psychologie MeSH
- Romové * psychologie statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- sociální determinanty zdraví etnologie MeSH
- sociální marginalizace psychologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Slovenská republika MeSH
BACKGROUND: Intestinal parasitic infections remain a significant global health issue, particularly affecting poor and marginalised populations. These infections significantly contribute to children's diseases, malnutrition, poor school performance, cognitive disorders, and future economic losses. This study aimed to explore and compare the occurrence of intestinal parasites in early childhood among the group of infants from the Slovak majority population and from marginalised Roma communities (MRCs). Furthermore, it aimed to explore the health complaints of children with and without intestinal parasitic infection in the past month and assess the effect of various risk factors on the occurrence of intestinal parasitic infection in infants from MRCs. METHODS: We obtained cross-sectional data from mothers and stool samples of their children aged 13-21 months using the first wave of the longitudinal RomaREACH study. A total of 181 stools from infants were analysed: 105 infants from the Slovak majority population and 76 from MRCs. RESULTS: Infants from MRCs are significantly more often infected by Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and Giardia duodenalis than their better-off peers from the majority population. Infection rates are 30% in infants from MRCs vs. 0% in the majority population (p < 0.001). Single and mixed infections were observed in children from MRCs. Infants with intestinal parasitic infections suffer significantly more often from various health complaints, particularly cough, stomach ache, irritability, and diarrhoea. Within MRCs, the risk of parasitic infections in infants is significantly increased by risk factors such as the absence of flushing toilets in households (OR = 4.17, p < 0.05) and contact with un-dewormed animals (OR = 3.61, p < 0.05). Together with the absence of running water in the household, these three factors combined increase the risk more than ten times (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Maintaining hygienic standards in conditions of socioeconomic deprivation in MRCs without running water and sewage in the presence of un-dewormed animals is problematic. These living conditions contribute to the higher prevalence of parasitic infections in children from MRCs, causing various health complaints and thus threatening their health and healthy development.
- MeSH
- feces * parazitologie MeSH
- kojenec MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- parazitární nemoci střev * epidemiologie MeSH
- prevalence MeSH
- průřezové studie MeSH
- rizikové faktory MeSH
- Romové * statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- kojenec MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Slovenská republika MeSH
BACKGROUND: Infant mortality rates are reliable indices of the child and general population health status and health care delivery. The most critical factors affecting infant mortality are socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The aim of this study was to assess the association between socioeconomic disadvantage, ethnicity, and perinatal, neonatal, and infant mortality in Slovakia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The associations between socioeconomic disadvantage (educational level, long-term unemployment rate), ethnicity (the proportion of the Roma population) and mortality (perinatal, neonatal, and infant) in the period 2017-2022 were explored, using linear regression models. RESULTS: The higher proportion of people with only elementary education and long-term unemployed, as well as the higher proportion of the Roma population, increases mortality rates. The proportion of the Roma population had the most significant impact on mortality in the selected period between 2017 and 2022, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022). CONCLUSIONS: Life in segregated Roma settlements is connected with the accumulation of socioeconomic disadvantage. Persistent inequities between Roma and the majority population in Slovakia exposed by mortality rates in children point to the vulnerabilities and exposures which should be adequately addressed by health and social policies.
- MeSH
- COVID-19 MeSH
- etnicita statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- kojenec MeSH
- kojenecká mortalita * etnologie trendy MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- novorozenec MeSH
- perinatální mortalita * etnologie trendy MeSH
- Romové * statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- socioekonomické faktory * MeSH
- socioekonomické nerovnosti ve zdraví MeSH
- těhotenství MeSH
- Check Tag
- kojenec MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- novorozenec MeSH
- těhotenství MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Slovenská republika MeSH
The aim of this study was to present and compare anthropometric characteristics of Roma pregnant women in Virovitica-Podravina County to the majoritarian non-Roma group. A retrospective study on deliveries of Roma women at the Maternity Ward of the General Hospital Virovitica, Croatia, was carried out in the period from 1991 to 2010. The study included 204 Roma and 408 non-Roma pregnant women. The values analysed were prepregnancy body weight and height, body mass index (BMI), body weight before delivery, gestational weight gain (GWG) and external dimensions of the pelvis. Roma women give birth while being on average younger, 7.6 cm smaller, 4.70 kg lighter at the beginning and 5.13 kg at the end of the pregnancy, compared to the non-Roma women. The values of BMI and GWG are similar in both groups, however a higher frequency of the underweight, overweight and obese pregnant women was found in the Roma group. All three outer dimensions of the pelvis (Distancia cristarum, spinarum and trochanterica) are on average 1 cm smaller in Roma group. The differences in anthropometric characteristics between Roma and non-Roma pregnant women in Virovitica-Podravina County can be explained by ethnical origin, interaction with environmental factors and lifestyle.
- MeSH
- antropometrie * MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- pánev anatomie a histologie MeSH
- Romové statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- těhotné ženy MeSH
- tělesné váhy a míry * statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- srovnávací studie MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Chorvatsko MeSH
Increasing employment opportunities for segregated Roma might prevent major economic losses and improve their health. Involvement of the private sector in Roma employment, on top of intensified governmental actions, is likely to be a key to sustainable improvement, but evidence on this is scarce. Our aim was to determine the potential outcomes of such a partnership regarding increased employability and the resulting improved well-being and health. We therefore investigated a Roma employment project called Equality of Opportunity, run since 2002 by a private company, U.S. Steel Kosice, in eastern Slovakia. We conducted a multi-perspective qualitative study to obtain the perspectives of key stakeholders on the outcomes of this project. We found that they expected the employability of segregated Roma to increase in particular via improvements in their work ethic and working habits, education, skills acquisition, self-confidence, courage and social inclusion. They further expected as the main health effects of increased employability an improvement in Roma well-being and health via a stable income, better housing, crime reduction, improved hygienic standards, access to prevention and improved mental resilience. Social policies regarding segregated Roma could thus be best directed at increasing employment and at these topics in particular to increase their effects on Roma health.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- hodnocení programu MeSH
- kvalitativní výzkum MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- partnerství veřejného a soukromého sektoru statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- podpora zdraví metody MeSH
- Romové * psychologie statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- sociální determinanty zdraví MeSH
- sociální segregace psychologie MeSH
- zaměstnanost psychologie statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Slovenská republika MeSH
OBJECTIVE: The poor health of Roma is well documented, but there is only limited data regarding the health of Roma children. The aim of this study was to describe the socioeconomic status, health related behaviour, and health of children living in segregated Roma settlements, and to compare the data with that of non-Roma children. METHODS: In March-April of 2011, a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey among 11-year-old (211 boys and 252 girls) and 13-year-old (205 boys and 247 girls) children living in Roma settlements was performed (response rate: 91.5%). These data were compared with data from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey carried out in 2009/2010. RESULTS: The parents of Roma children were substantially less educated and less likely to be actively employed, and Roma children reported lower material welfare than non-Roma ones. The prevalence of consuming sweets and soft drinks at least 5 times per week was 1.5-2 times higher among Roma children. The prevalence of regular intense physical activity was higher at the age of 13 years among Roma boys, while physical inactivity was substantially higher in both age groups among Roma girls. Almost one quarter of Roma children and approximately 14% of non-Roma children had tried smoking at the age of 11. More Roma boys tried alcohol at the age of 11 than non-Roma ones. One in ten Roma children was obese in both age groups. The self-rated health status of Roma children was worse than that of non-Roma children. CONCLUSIONS: Children living in Roma settlements reported poorer socioeconomic conditions, higher consumption of sweets and soft drinks, earlier smoking and alcohol initiation, and worse self-rated health, but with some exceptions do not differ in fruit or vegetable consumption and BMI from general child population. To promote health of children living in Roma settlements, a multi-sector approach, special health education, plus social and health promotion programmes are needed.
- MeSH
- charakteristiky bydlení statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- dítě MeSH
- kouření epidemiologie etnologie MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- pití alkoholu epidemiologie etnologie MeSH
- prevalence MeSH
- průřezové studie MeSH
- průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
- Romové etnologie statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- socioekonomické faktory MeSH
- společenská třída MeSH
- zdravé chování etnologie MeSH
- zdravotní stav * MeSH
- zdravotnické přehledy metody MeSH
- Check Tag
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Maďarsko MeSH
OBJECTIVE: This study analyses the differences in birth outcomes between Roma and non-Roma mothers and investigates the potential causes of such differences. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1,989 non-Roma and 799 Roma mothers who gave birth in 2014 and 2015 at the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Clinic of Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Košice. Data on mothers and new-born infants have been obtained from the birth book and from the reports on mothers at childbirth. For low birth weight we considered the weight of a new-born weighing less than 2,500 grams and as for premature birth we referred to childbirth before pregnancy week 37. The file was split by ethnicity and statistically processed in IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0. RESULTS: Our results confirmed a lower birth weight among Roma children (-365.4 grams, p < 0.001). The shorter gestation age and higher risk of premature birth were not statistically significant regarding Roma children. Based on the characteristics of Roma mothers, they are at higher risk of giving birth as minor (OR = 23.64; 95% CI = 15.29-36.54; p < 0.001), as single mothers (OR = 7.13; 95% CI = 5.80-8.76; p < 0.001), with basic education or lack of education (OR = 141.31; 95% CI = 100.47-198.76; p < 0.001). They also have a higher risk of smoking during pregnancy (OR = 23.84; 95% CI = 18.06-31.49; p < 0.001); drinking alcohol (OR = 11.71; 95% CI = 3.36-40.90; p < 0.001) and taking drugs (OR = 8.70; 95% CI = 1.81-42.02; p < 0.001). Roma women attended gynaecologists more rarely. CONCLUSION: It is therefore important to support the work of community health workers and stimulate collaboration between community health professionals, paediatricians and gynaecologists to overcome institutional barriers in maternity and child care for mothers living in Roma settlement.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- matky statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- novorozenec s nízkou porodní hmotností * MeSH
- novorozenec MeSH
- porodní hmotnost MeSH
- předčasný porod etnologie MeSH
- retrospektivní studie MeSH
- rizikové faktory MeSH
- Romové etnologie statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- těhotenství MeSH
- výsledek těhotenství etnologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- novorozenec MeSH
- těhotenství MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Slovenská republika MeSH
OBJECTIVES: The health of the Roma population is relatively poor and indicators on municipal level are needed to inform authorities to improve it. The aim of this study was to compare the rate of low birthweights (LBW) and mean birthweight (BW) in municipalities with minor Roma population (MMR) and municipalities with large Roma population (MLR) in Slovakia. METHODS: A population-wide, ecological level, cross-sectional study was conducted using data from 2009-2013. Data on proportions of newborns with LBW, on mean birthweight of newborns and on mean ages of mothers at birth were obtained from the National Health Information Centre of Slovakia. Rates of LBW and mean BW were compared between the MMR and MLR groups. Mean age of mothers and rates of unemployment were considered possible confounders. RESULTS: The mean BW was by 183 g higher in the MMR group compared to MLR; the rates of LBW were 4.2% and 8.9%, respectively. Increasing proportions of Roma were significantly associated with increasing rates of LBW and decreasing mean BW, one percent increase in the proportion of Roma was associated with an increase in LBW rate of 0.15% and a decrease in mean LBW of -4.9 grams. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings could be used as a proxy for the purposes of policy making, replacing individual level studies with more resource-demanding design.
- MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- novorozenec s nízkou porodní hmotností * MeSH
- novorozenec MeSH
- porodní hmotnost * MeSH
- průřezové studie MeSH
- Romové statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- velkoměsta MeSH
- venkovské obyvatelstvo statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- novorozenec MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- srovnávací studie MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Slovenská republika MeSH
- velkoměsta MeSH
The article presents the results of a correlation study, aimed at quantifying the food intake of the Roma population in the South Bohemian Region. To achieve the goal, we applied the method of one-day dietary recall and frequency food analysis (non-standardized). The quantification was carried out by analysis in the Nutridan program. The study involved 302 Roma persons and 298 persons in the control group. Both groups had the same representation of males and females (50:50). The age categories of both sets differed; the average age of the Roma was lower (39.2 years) (p < 0.001). The probands from the Roma population were chosen with the help of the snowball method through known respondents. The statistical analysis shows differences in nutritional estimate between the Roma population and the control sample. The Roma differ in their energy intake. Both groups showed lower intake of sugars, below 50% total energy intake (TEI) and higher intake of fats, above 30% TEI. The respondents from both groups consume little fruits and vegetables, which may be connected with their low dietary fiber intake. In addition to the differences in the nutritional estimates, we recorded statistically significant differences in body mass index (BMI; p < 0.001), in age (p < 0.001), regular alimentation (p = 0) and demanding physical activities (p = 0). In spite of the fact our groups differed in age (the Roma are younger), it can be assumed that the obesity of the Roma may be caused by unbalanced alimentation and lack of physical activities.
- MeSH
- cvičení psychologie MeSH
- dietní záznamy MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- přijímání potravy psychologie MeSH
- Romové psychologie statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- zdravá strava psychologie statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Česká republika MeSH
