Health

"I was the only Roma in the ward. The nurses regularly changed other patients’ bedsheets but not mine. When I protested, I was told that back home I had no clean bedsheets and I slept on the bare floor, so I should not ask for more than I deserved."
(A Macedonian Roma woman. From the Amnesty International 2010 Report, ‘Left out: Violations of Europe’s Roma people’s rights’).

The health of millions of Roma people in Europe is endangered by poverty and the pitiful living conditions. Many of them display a greater need of health services than most of the general population but they have no access to such services due to the widespread, often systematic violations of their rights to health.

The main hindrances preventing Roma people from enjoying their rights to health are their exclusion from health insurance programs, discrimination by medical personnel, their inability to bear the cost of healthcare and drugs, and the lack of health services within easy reach of their settlements, places where the Roma often live in segregation.

“The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”, da “Human rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe”, Council of Europe, 2012, pp. 167-177.

“Il diritto alla salute”, da “Lasciati fuori. Violazione dei diritti dei rom in Europa”, Amnesty International, 2010, pp. 13-16.