Niksić Dragana, Kurspahić-Mujcić Amira
Institute of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo, Cekalusa 90, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosn J Basic Med Sci. 2007 May;7(2):144-9. doi: 10.17305/bjbms.2007.3070.
Roma people in B&H are a marginalised population group. Their health condition; is considerably worse than the condition of other population groups. The health problems of Roma people correlate with inadequate living and dwelling conditions. Roma children are facing the impossibility of being health care beneficiaries, because their parents are unemployed. The objective of this survey was to examine the family surrounding of children in age up to 8 years, including the social conditions under which they live and the presence of health risk behaviour. The research presents a descriptive cross-section study. We interviewed 1100 non-Roma parents and children and 383 Roma parents and children (in the communities of domicile Roma people) in B&H Federation. The results obtained indicate that only 17,8 % of Roma parents are secondary-school leavers, while remaining percentage covers those with incomplete primary school or without education at all, against 63,6% of non-Roma parents who have secondary education. The parents consider themselves good providers for their children (59,3% of Roma parents and 75% of non-Roma parents often play with their children). The Roma parents seek for medical attention for their children only in the cases when urgent health problems occur, such as fever/increased body temperature (one-half of the interviewed parents) or diarrhoea (31,9%). Physical punishment of children occurs more frequently in Roma families (23,7% - this is only the top of an iceberg) then in non-Roma families (11,4%). The parents usually beat children by using their hands or punish them by flogging. The domestic violence is accepted amongst Roma people and it has most sever impact on children, who suffer emotionally and physically. In the future, it will be necessary to create the kind of family environment that would enable improvement of health condition and decrease the behaviour that endangers the health of children.
波黑的罗姆人是一个边缘化的人口群体。他们的健康状况比其他人口群体要差得多。罗姆人的健康问题与生活和居住条件不足相关。罗姆儿童无法成为医疗保健的受益者，因为他们的父母失业。本次调查的目的是研究8岁以下儿童的家庭环境，包括他们生活的社会条件以及健康风险行为的存在情况。该研究是一项描述性横断面研究。我们采访了波黑联邦1100名非罗姆父母和儿童以及383名罗姆父母和儿童（在罗姆人聚居社区）。获得的结果表明，只有17.8%的罗姆父母中学毕业，其余比例包括小学未毕业或完全没有受过教育的人，而非罗姆父母中有63.6%接受过中等教育。父母们认为自己是孩子的好供养者（59.3%的罗姆父母和75%的非罗姆父母经常与孩子玩耍）。罗姆父母只有在孩子出现紧急健康问题时，如发烧/体温升高（一半的受访父母）或腹泻（31.9%），才会带孩子就医。罗姆家庭中对孩子的体罚比非罗姆家庭更频繁（23.7%——这只是冰山一角），非罗姆家庭为11.4%。父母通常用手打孩子或鞭打惩罚他们。家庭暴力在罗姆人中被接受，对孩子的影响最为严重，他们在情感和身体上都遭受痛苦。未来，有必要营造一种家庭环境，以改善健康状况并减少危害儿童健康的行为。
