Health inequalities: travelling communities
Published: 06 October 2008 09:00 Author: Richard O'Neill
Last Updated: 06 October 2008 09:00
The alarming levels of health inequalities experienced by travelling communities can be better understood and tackled by health professionals, says Richard O'Neill.
The health of Gypsy Roma Travellers is more scary tale than fairy tale. I know from first-hand experience of having been born and brought up in a caravan that accessing healthcare while on the road is never easy. In the four decades since then, it has not improved much.
Study after study shows that Gypsies and Travellers have the worst health of any ethnic minority in the country and the anecdotal evidence that my colleagues and I collect on our travels shows an even worse picture.
It can be worse still for men, who can just drop out of the health service altogether, only to re-engage with it when absolutely necessary, usually in accident and emergency. A cause for concern, yes - but also an opportunity to tackle the problem once and for all.
Health professionals often ask me how to engage with Gypsies and Travellers. How do you find them in the first place and how do you break down barriers?
First we need to understand why those barriers are there - and be prepared to work with and have the trust of people who do know where Travellers are. Hopefully these are people who have worked positively with the communities before, and ideally people from the community who have got involved as advocates and health trainers themselves.
They would know, for example, that there are far more Gypsies and Travellers resident in housing than on caravan sites and these housed people are often overlooked as they are effectively invisible to ethnic monitoring.
Gypsies and Travellers also have their own languages and a deep culture. It is essential for people who are going to work with them to receive cultural awareness training, and that community members themselves are made aware of your organisation's culture, what is and is not possible in terms of service and why certain systems exist.
(MORE)
Last Updated: 06 October 2008 09:00
The alarming levels of health inequalities experienced by travelling communities can be better understood and tackled by health professionals, says Richard O'Neill.
The health of Gypsy Roma Travellers is more scary tale than fairy tale. I know from first-hand experience of having been born and brought up in a caravan that accessing healthcare while on the road is never easy. In the four decades since then, it has not improved much.
Study after study shows that Gypsies and Travellers have the worst health of any ethnic minority in the country and the anecdotal evidence that my colleagues and I collect on our travels shows an even worse picture.
It can be worse still for men, who can just drop out of the health service altogether, only to re-engage with it when absolutely necessary, usually in accident and emergency. A cause for concern, yes - but also an opportunity to tackle the problem once and for all.
Health professionals often ask me how to engage with Gypsies and Travellers. How do you find them in the first place and how do you break down barriers?
First we need to understand why those barriers are there - and be prepared to work with and have the trust of people who do know where Travellers are. Hopefully these are people who have worked positively with the communities before, and ideally people from the community who have got involved as advocates and health trainers themselves.
They would know, for example, that there are far more Gypsies and Travellers resident in housing than on caravan sites and these housed people are often overlooked as they are effectively invisible to ethnic monitoring.
Gypsies and Travellers also have their own languages and a deep culture. It is essential for people who are going to work with them to receive cultural awareness training, and that community members themselves are made aware of your organisation's culture, what is and is not possible in terms of service and why certain systems exist.
(MORE)
Labels: Gypsy, Health Care, Travellers, UK
posted by Allie @ 8:09 AM
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