There are hardly any studies that have been done to document health issues in the Roma communities in Greece. The Greek Helsinki monitor provided me with one from taken between March 2003 and February 2004, which is shocking to say the least.

Out of a total of 3,664 children (this constitutes half of all children registered as living in settlements), only 4 (0.12%) had the following basic amenities or observed these basic health practices:

1: live permanently in a "proper" (i.e. built) house with running water, electricity and heating
2: washed  their whole body more that 3 times a week
3: washed their hands with soap
4: used a toothbrush
5: changed into night clothes before going to sleep
6: wear shoes all year long and

That's just 4 children out of 3,464.

20% of children are not born in hospital. (Remember, we are not talking about planned home-births with skilled midwives in attendance but babies being born in the squalid settlements I have described in the previous articles.

41% of children have no access to water (individual or communal meters) at all.

The children and babies I saw were far from a picture of health. Most, if not all, had teeth missing or so rotten that they would eventually lose them. I cannot begin to imagine the pain they must suffer from decayed teeth.

All of them had scars on their bodies. It is not unusual for kids to fall down and cut themselves. My kid has numerous scars from childhood falls and accidents. One in particular, is a classic "boxer" scar above one eye where he fell off a chair and hit the corner of the table. We rushed him to the hospital where they put in stitches that were so perfect, you can hardly see the mark now. The scars I saw on the children at Votanikos are entirely different. They were numerous, ragged and badly healed.

Most of the children were barefoot, running over ground littered with broken glass and rusted metal.

My guess is that very few, if any, of the children are vaccinated. None of them have paediatricians or a regular doctor. However, everyone who talked about their experiences with hospitals and doctors were full of praise and admiration for the treatment they received. One man related his recent story of a long stay in hospital (I do not feel it's right to go into details of the medical circumstances but I will say that it was a very serious situation) The surgeon who treated him helped him in more ways than his recovery required. He helped him financially, he sorted out some of his paperwork, he brought parcels of food for his children. I have never had anything other than the best things to say about the doctors who work in the public hospitals here. The vast majority are incredible.

This communities living conditions is not compatible with health. Again, education is a key to raising health standards but money is required for that to happen. There have been a few (very few) efforts to address health issues. The statistics above come from a study done by a mobile vaccination unit that operated for a year. As far as I know it is not ongoing.None of the residents has regular medical check-ups. The woman do not visit gynaecologists for regular screening or for pre-natal care. No-one has regular dental checks. In short, people do not  seek help until it is extremely serious or too late.

The average life expectancy of the Roma is about 20 years below the national average. Around 50 years old. That is shocking.

The woman in this photo has recently lost her husband. He died right there in the settlement. She pointed to the spot a short distance from where we stood. I am not sure what he died of because communication was very difficult. She is deaf.
Despite our different languages and cultures and backgrounds and conditions, there was something she communicated that I could understand: Pain.

"What am I going to do? I have three small children. They have no food. No water. What am I going to do?"

She broke my heart a little bit more.