Abstract
Addressing health disparities and promoting health equity for Roma has been a challenge. The Roma are the largest disadvantaged ethnic minority population in Europe and have been the victims of deep social and economic injustices, institutional discrimination, and structural antigypsyism over many centuries. This has resulted in a much worse health status than their non-Roma counterparts. Current strategies based on ameliorative and top-down approaches to service delivery have resulted in paradoxical effects that solidify health disparities, since they do not effectively address the problems of vulnerable Roma groups. Following a health justice approach, we present a community-based participatory action research case study generated by a community and university partnership intended to address power imbalances and build collaboration among local stakeholders. This case study involved a group of health providers, Roma residents, researchers, Roma community organizations, and other stakeholders in the Poligono Sur, a neighborhood of Seville, Spain. The case study comprises four phases: (1) identifying Roma health assets, (2) empowering Roma community through sociopolitical awareness, (3) promoting alliances between Roma and community resources/institutions, and (4) building a common agenda for promoting Roma health justice. We highlighted best practices for developing processes to influence Roma health equity in local health policy agendas.
Highlights
Roma poor health outcomes are a manifestation of the prevalent marginalization and discrimination they continue to suffer [1]
We present a collaborative action-research process involving Roma residents, academic researchers, and health and social care providers aimed at developing health justice in Poligono Sur, a disenfranchised district in southern Spain with a high Roma population [10]
Providers expressed how organizations were playing a role in health mediation but were not enough to access or understand the Poligono Sur (PS) Roma community
Summary
Roma poor health outcomes are a manifestation of the prevalent marginalization and discrimination they continue to suffer [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) have denounced that 80% of European Roma have a life expectancy up to 15 years lower than the non-Roma population as a consequence of living in marginalized communities under the poverty threshold [3]. Women have a life expectancy six years less than the rest of the population, and men have a life expectancy 10 years less [66]. These data are similar to those obtained by the Roma National Health Survey carried out in
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