Even if health is an important pillar of the inclusion of Roma in all public policy documents, the studies and researches analyzed highlight the fact that Roma encounter difficulties in accessing basic, preventive and curative, integrated and quality health services. Recent data show that there is still a gap in morbidity and mortality indicators among Roma compared to the majority population in Romania.

From the county progress reports made by the County Offices for Roma - BJR, it is highlighted that the main activities carried out in Roma communities are vaccination campaigns, health education campaigns in order to prevent diseases, as well as other activities carried out by the DSP in accordance with the programs national health services managed by the Ministry of Health.

According to the IRES report (2018), there are visible differences between the Roma population and the majority population in terms of health status and access to health services:
a. Lack of annual medical check-up. If 71% in the majority population have their annual medical check-up, this is true only for 39% among Roma.
b. Registration with the family doctor. Compared to 2012, there is a slight increase in the number of people registered with the family doctor in 2018, for both samples, Roma and the majority population.
c. The most common diseases mentioned as being present in the family are dental diseases, cardiovascular diseases, digestive diseases and ophthalmological diseases. There is no major differentiation between Roma and the majority population.
d. Access to medical services among Roma. The number of Roma claiming that they did not receive specialist hospital care decreased from 21% in 2012 to 12% in 2018.
e. Large differences in contraceptive use. There are large differences (10%) between the majority population and Roma regarding the use of contraceptive measures. Moreover, 16% of Roma women prefer to have an abortion, while in the case of the majority population the proportion is 1%. There are no major changes compared to 2012.
f. Medical supervision during pregnancy is lower than in the general population. 18% of Roma women declare that they never visited a doctor during pregnancy.
According to the Report Summative evaluation of the model "First priority: No invisible child" (ANPDCA, UNICEF Romania, 2017)40 regarding the vaccination of children between 1 and 5 years old, in 2015, the percentage of unvaccinated Roma children was three times higher than the of unvaccinated children of the majority population, and the situation has not significantly improved.

Regarding the diseases faced by Roma citizens, the analysis carried out by the ANR showed that the competent authorities do not collect ethnic data by type of disease. However, it is found, from discussions with practitioners in the field, that there are no significant differences between the Roma and the majority population regarding the incidence of illnesses. However, considering that the state of health is also conditioned by socio-economic and cultural characteristics, practitioners recommend the implementation of health education campaigns in the field of disease prevention, adapted to the level of training and the cultural/traditional system of members of Roma communities.

Representatives of civil society point out that the phenomenon of discrimination is present in the medical staff-patient relationship and takes different forms, respectively: direct discrimination, when Roma are explicitly refused by medical staff, even if they meet all the conditions to receive medical assistance, but also indirect discrimination , manifested by the segregation of patients in hospital units, based on ethnic criteria and social status.

Health action directions

• Ensuring institutional communication to the ANR and DSP for the purpose of preventing and combating discrimination against Romanian citizens belonging to the Roma minority at public health services
• Continuing the development of the network of integrated medical-socio-educational services
• Inclusion of Romanian citizens belonging to the Roma minority to basic, preventive and curative, integrated and non-discriminatory health services, established by the National Health Programs
• Designing training programs for medical personnel involved in the provision of services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pathologies, on topics related to combating discrimination and human rights