In the margins of stigma: health inequalities among Bulgarian Roma in a post-COVID-19 UK

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had a disproportionate impact on minoritised ethnic groups in the UK, including newly arrived Roma communities. Employing ethnographic and participatory methods, this study illustrates how systemic barriers, including precarious employment and overcrowded housing, coupled with strategies of identity concealment to avoid stigma, severely restrict access to healthcare among Bulgarian Roma communities in the UK. Drawing from fieldwork in Leicester and London, the research reveals how the pandemic amplified the vulnerabilities of Roma populations, directly linking the effects of the pandemic with broader sociopolitical dynamics, including the uncertainties and discrimination associated with Brexit. The findings point to the critical role of community, mutual and familial support networks as essential survival strategies. However, these social networks are also increasingly depleted, revealing the fragility and limits of informal communal resources. The study calls for the development of inclusive health strategies sensitive to the socio-economic and political complexities affecting marginalised communities in the UK and beyond.