Doubling Syndemics: Ethnographic Accounts of the Health Situation of Homeless Romanian Roma in Copenhagen

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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 enhanced
by 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, both
in 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 of
the European Union.
Translated title of the contributionDoubling Syndemics: Sundhedssituationen for hjemløse rumænske romaer i København
Original languageEnglish
JournalHealth and Human Rights
Volume19
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)73-88
Number of pages15
ISSN1079-0969
Publication statusPublished - 8 Dec 2017

ID: 186526883