TY - JOUR

T1 - Doubling Syndemics

T2 - Ethnographic Accounts of the Health Situation of Homeless Romanian Roma in Copenhagen

AU - Ravnbøl, Camilla Ida

PY - 2017/12/8

Y1 - 2017/12/8

N2 - This study investigates health concerns and access to health services for Roma from Romania who live in homelessness in Copenhagen, Denmark. They collect refundable bottles and call themselves “badocari,” which in Romanian refers to “people who work with bottles.” Homeless Roma in Denmark have not previously been studied through ethnographic research. The study stresses the importance of a syndemic approach towards understanding badocari health concerns. Syndemics is understood as cooccurring diseases, which unfold within contexts of social injustice. The case of the badocari is argued to be a case of “doubling syndemics” since the co-occurring diseases are further multiplied and enhancedby an ongoing mobility between dual contexts of precarious livelihoods in Romania and Denmark, respectively. The study complements the approach to syndemics with a perspective on human rights. It sheds light on the limited possibilities that exist for addressing health concerns of the badocari, bothin Romania and in Denmark, and argues that the universal human right to health is not realized in the everyday lives of destitute EU migrants such as the badocari. Rather, they experience lack of access to adequate medical treatment and follow-up care, both as citizens of a member state and as co-citizens ofthe European Union.

AB - This study investigates health concerns and access to health services for Roma from Romania who live in homelessness in Copenhagen, Denmark. They collect refundable bottles and call themselves “badocari,” which in Romanian refers to “people who work with bottles.” Homeless Roma in Denmark have not previously been studied through ethnographic research. The study stresses the importance of a syndemic approach towards understanding badocari health concerns. Syndemics is understood as cooccurring diseases, which unfold within contexts of social injustice. The case of the badocari is argued to be a case of “doubling syndemics” since the co-occurring diseases are further multiplied and enhancedby an ongoing mobility between dual contexts of precarious livelihoods in Romania and Denmark, respectively. The study complements the approach to syndemics with a perspective on human rights. It sheds light on the limited possibilities that exist for addressing health concerns of the badocari, bothin Romania and in Denmark, and argues that the universal human right to health is not realized in the everyday lives of destitute EU migrants such as the badocari. Rather, they experience lack of access to adequate medical treatment and follow-up care, both as citizens of a member state and as co-citizens ofthe European Union.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - Romaer

KW - Hjemløshed

KW - Sundhed

KW - Etnicitet

KW - Menneskerettigheder

KW - EU

KW - Migration

KW - antropologi

UR - https://www.hhrjournal.org/2017/12/doubling-syndemics-ethnographic-accounts-of-the-health-situation-of-homeless-romanian-roma-in-copenhagen/

M3 - Journal article

VL - 19

SP - 73

EP - 88

JO - Health and Human Rights

JF - Health and Human Rights

SN - 1079-0969

IS - 2

ER -