Neighborhoods & Public Health

In Hungary – as in many European countries – Roma experience significantly worse health outcomes than the general population. Limited access to health care services does not fully explain this gap in the Roma health status. Social and environmental determinants, such as bad housing conditions, limited public infrastructure, environmental harms, geographic and social exclusion, are very much related to the health condition of Roma in East-Central-Europe. When it comes to closing the health gap between Roma and non-Roma, evidence suggests that social determinants of health — social, economic, cultural, political, and environmental factors — play a more significant role than their limited access to health care services.

Our ongoing project’s main objective is to collect relevant evidence on social and environmental determinants of Roma health in a Hungarian town’s segregated neighborhoods to strengthen the need for research-based evidence in policy-making as well as for the mobilization of local Roma communities in advocacy for the improvement of health indicators. The research out­comes could underpin and foster the adequacy and effectiveness of the further mediation process between local stakeholders and community advocacy efforts.