All Ireland Traveller Health Study Our Geels - Department of Health ...

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All Ireland Traveller Health Study The factors which cause social need and exclusion do not always fit comfortably within the areas of responsibility of individual Departments. Through the PSI (2002) element of the New TSN, Departments work together - and with partners outside Government - to tackle factors which contribute to social exclusion and to improve the life circumstances of groups at risk of social exclusion. As part of PSI, work is already ongoing to prevent and tackle social exclusion among Travellers. The following are some findings (specific to the Traveller community) in the New TSN: • There is clear evidence of deprivation and poor health among Travellers. • Long-term unemployment is a problem, with only 1 in 10 Travellers in paid employment. • There is a high illiteracy level among Travellers and 92% have no GCSEs or equivalent. • Travellers have generally poor living conditions – they are 8 times more likely than the general population to live in crowded accommodation. • Child mortality up to age 10 has been found to be 10 times that of the population as a whole. • On average, Travellers die about 15 years earlier than the general population. Only 1 in 10 of the Traveller population is over 40 years of age and only 1 in 100 is over 65. • Further work needs to be carried out on developing good indicators for health inequalities; for instance, better ways of measuring the gap in health status between minority ethnic groups, e.g. Travellers, and the rest of the population (1999 New TSN and PSI working groups). Investing for Health 2002 The Northern Ireland public health strategy ‘Investing for Health’ was published in 2002 (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2002). The strategy contains a framework for action that is based on a multi-sectoral partnership working amongst Departments, public bodies, local communities, voluntary bodies, district councils and social partners. The key aims of the strategy are to improve life expectancy across the population and to reduce health inequalities. The strategy has a particular focus on the most disadvantaged in Northern Ireland. ‘Health is an outcome that results from a whole range of influences in everyday life. Inequalities in these determinants are responsible for inequalities in health’. ‘Investing for Health’ goes on to say that ‘differences in social and educational opportunities’ are strongly implicated in the occurrence of these inequalities. (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2002). 18
Health Survey Findings Perceptions of Health and Health Services by the Traveller Community in the Greater Belfast Area (2005) This study involved finding out perceptions of the Irish Traveller community of their health needs, their perception and experience of health services in general and the Royal Hospitals in particular. Most Travellers believe they suffer poor health and attribute this to three main factors: lack of appropriate accommodation, discrimination and racism they experience and poor health behaviours. Most Travellers believe that improvements in their health status will come with opportunities to participate in employment and social activity, coupled with a programme of Traveller specific accommodation and a reduction in the discrimination and prejudice they face. Travellers recognise that improved access to health services over recent years has created some positive change in their lives today. The first piece of research commissioned by a statutory agency on the condition of Traveller health in Northern Ireland took place in 1993 and covered the Eastern Health and Social Services area (Ginnety, 1993). This employed an ethnographical approach that sought to discover the views people hold about their social world and attempted to elicit the naturally occurring health knowledge that is used by Travellers themselves. A total of 55 Travellers participated in indepth interviews. The report concluded that poor environmental conditions and poor access to existing health and social services were major influences on Traveller health. It also highlighted the need to involve Travellers in decisionmaking. Since 1987, no national studies have been conducted on Traveller health in ROI, but research carried out in recent years suggests that the health status of Travellers may not have improved. This review does not seek to cover these various studies, many of which have methodological limitations, including small numbers, difficulty in identifying Travellers and lack of generalisability of findings. Some indicative examples only are included. The Irish Sudden Infant Death Association (ISIDA) found in their Annual Report of 1999 that the rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) among Travellers was 12 times greater than the rate among the settled population (Irish Sudden Infant Death Association, 1999). In 2000, a study on Travellers attending the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght in south-west Dublin (Traveller Health Unit in the Eastern Region, 2000), found that while over a third of the hospital’s general population patients were in the over 65 year age group, compared with 11% of general population aged over 65 years (Central Statistics Office, 2003b), just 2% of Traveller patients were aged over 65 years, compared with 3% of Traveller patients aged over 65 years (Central Statistics Office, 2003b). 19
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