Traveller mortality ‘like 1940s’ according to Angela Long reporting in IrishHealth.com
Health in the Travelling community is like that of settled people in the 1940s, according to a new book.
Nearly half Travelling people die before the age of 40, and only one in three lives beyond 60.
The book, Travellers’ Last Rights: Responding to Death in a Cultural Context, has just been published. Its authors are Jacinta Brack and Father Stephen Monaghan.
Father Monaghan is with the Parish of the Travelling People, established 25 years ago by the Vincentian Community.
He and Ms Brack looked at health statistics over a 10-year period from 1995 in the Dublin area.
They found that early death, under the age of 25, accounted for nearly a third of deaths among travellers. In the total population the figure is only 2.6%.
The Travelling community also displayed a very high infant death rate, and especially sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Death rates were particularly high for Travellers from road traffic accidents, suicides and, to a less marked extent, accidental deaths in general.
However figures for deaths from cancer and heart disease were much lower than the general population. The authors say that these tend to be causes of mortality in older people, and many Travellers simply do not live long enough to have these ailments.
The study concluded there had been no improvement in Travellers’ health and life expectancy in 20 years.
The book says culturally-trained health staff should be employed to liaise with Traveller patients and families.
Tags: Homelessness
