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.

The objective of this study is to build advocacy capacity among a group of gipsy Roma neighbours living in contexts of risk of social exclusion. A Community Based Participatory Action Research design was used, in which 4 members of the community participated in the process of collecting evidence by photo-voice, analysing it using the ReACT method and disseminating the results. A total of 96 pieces of evidence were collected and analysed for qualitative data analysis. These were categorised according to (a) the type of unhealthy conditions and (b) the area of the neighbourhood where they were located. The subsequent thematic grouping made it possible to identify the causes: (a) the abandonment of public services; (b) discrimination; and (c) the lack of Roma presence in community spaces. The consequences identified were (a) mental and physical health problems and (b) the normalisation of undignified living conditions. The plan was designed to advocate for the presence of Roma in community spaces. Our study highlighted the relevance of the photo-voice to transcend the biomedical perspective and develop advocacy actions based on the knowledge created by the community. Future research should look more deeply into the impact of health advocacy on reducing inequalities and consider the importance of involving researchers, public health professionals and the community in addressing it.

Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority and despite their national citizen status, 80% live in extreme poverty and have a much worse health status than their non-Roma counterparts. European institutions have identified the institutional discrimination targeted at Roma communities—antigypsyism—as the underlying cause of the violation of their rights (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2018). Policies, practices and societal attitudes contribute to maintaining the status quo. From a community psychology perspective, we understand antigypsyism as institutional discrimination that needs to be addressed by creating processes with Roma communities that empower them to resist against this systemized oppression. Photovoice creates critical knowledge, increases individual skills to gain capacity to advocate and creates cohesion among oppressed groups to develop strategies for action (García-Ramírez et al., 2011). Thus, we propose that Photovoice can serve as a liberating process at the individual and community levels when utilized for advocacy. In this paper we present results of one aspect of RoAd4health (2016-2019), a project we carried out with Roma neighbors in Seville, Spain. The project aimed at developing advocacy processes in three at-risk, predominantly Roma neighborhoods to ensure the implementation and evaluation of Roma health policies through participatory action research (PAR). Here we focus on the potential of Photovoice to serve as a liberating process to resist antigypsyism. (Wang & Burris, 1997). In order to understand the individual and community impact of Photovoice for advocacy, we interviewed four of the Roma neighbor participants. Our analysis of the interviews resulted in two overarching themes from the citizen empowerment model (Kieffer, 1984): (1) From lack of consciousness to era of entry; (2) Achieving critical consciousness in the era of commitment; the second theme was divided into three subthemes, components of critical consciousness (Watts et al., 2011): (1) Critical reflection; (2) Political efficacy; and (3) Critical action. Overall, the Roma neighbors referred to the Photovoice as a method that instigated a conscientization process and helped gain commitment towards social justice actions, also reflected in actions following the Photovoice study. These results confirm that Photovoice as advocacy can contribute to individual empowerment and contribute to meaningful change towards community transformation to challenge antigypsyism.

The digital experiences of Roma girls are shaped through the Digital Determinants of Health (DDoH) such as poor housing conditions with limited digital infrastructure, under-resourced public schools in marginalized neighborhoods, and dominant narratives that overlook their capacities and contributions. Although the European digital transformation advances rapidly, it often fails to address the enduring impacts of structural antigypsyism across DDoH. This article addresses the following questions: (1) how do European digital transformation efforts respond to the impacts of historical antigypsyism on Roma girls’ digital experiences? (2) What dynamics across societal, community, interpersonal, and individual levels shape the violation and protection of Roma girls’ digital rights in marginalized neighborhoods? and (3) How can European digital transformation policies be operationalized to support a shift from impoverished to meaningful digital participation for Roma girls across all levels of the digital ecosystem? To answer these, the study employs a triangulation approach integrating policy analysis of relevant European strategies on digitalization and Roma inclusion, field observations from ongoing participatory research, and a targeted literature review providing theoretical and comparative grounding. The triangulation of these sources supports the development of an analytical framework for Roma Girls’ Digital Rights that allows to map digital experiences through an ecological lens. By bridging policies with local realities, this paper provides actionable recommendations to operationalize macro-level policies with the everyday realities of Roma girls, ensuring that they can experience digitalization as a pathway to empowerment and as active contributors to Europe’s digital future.

Migrant mothers of African origin (MMAO) face multiple situations of vulnerability in receiving societies, with implications for their right to the highest level of mental health. This study examines the intersecting social determinants that shape the experiences of suffering and well‐being expressed by MMAO engaged in transnational motherhood in southern Spain. Sixteen MMAO users of the Spanish Red Cross participated in individual interviews and photovoice‐based group sessions. The qualitative results show the existence of an interconnected web of six key human rights that are often violated, which impact the mental health of the MMAO. Specifically, MMAO frequently refer to their rights to (a) legal status, (b) access to decent work, (c) family reunification with their children, (d) enjoying supportive social networks in terms of transnational relationships as well as relationships with other MMAO in the receiving society, (e) maintaining their cultural and spiritual roots, and (f) self‐determination as a way to ensure their mental health. This proposal contributes to the literature by offering a human rights‐based approach to the mental health of a population that is particularly sensitive to the intersectionality of oppression and by offering recommendations for ensuring the right to the mental health of MMAO in receiving societies.