Poor health

One of my enduring memories from childhood was the sight of a long line of traveller community caravans along the Cookstown road on the way into Omagh. Now all the travellers in the Omagh district are in fixed housing. It's all part of the learning experience of someone newly returned home. However, one of the most shocking things I have learned more recently was during the field visits at the Rural Community Network annual conference was the appalling level of health and health care among the traveller community here in Ireland, north and south. In a presentation by Connor Keyes, I learned some unpalatable facts such as:

• Travellers have infant mortality rates 3 times higher than the general population.
• Travellers have stillbirth rates double that of the general population.
• Traveller men live on average 10 years less than settled men.
• Traveller women live on average 12 years less than settled women.
• Travellers of all ages have very high mortality rates compared to the Irish population.

It reminded me of the 'Third World' health conditions that Aborigine communities endure in 'economically advanced' Australia. University College Dublin have just commenced an All-Ireland Traveller Health Study 2007-2010 which will provide up-to-date information and hopefully indications that the situation is improving. It will be interesting to see if there are significant differences between north and south in terms of health conditions. Lay health workers have been operating in the south for some time now but a similar strategy is not yet in operation for the traveller community in Northern Ireland. It is hard to understand why not given the known barriers and constraints facing health care among the traveller community. Surely a situation that will change soon I hope.