Health Inequalities Among Roma Populations in Europe: An Intersectional Critical Narrative Review of Poverty, Ethnicity, Gender, and Intercultural Health Mediation.

Roma populations across Europe experience persistent health inequalities associated with poverty, ethnic marginalization, gendered disadvantage, and unequal encounters with healthcare institutions. Although these factors have been widely documented, less attention has been paid to how they interact and reinforce one another across contexts. This article presents a critical narrative review of literature published mainly between 2010 and 2025, complemented by selected theoretical sources on intersectionality and structural health inequalities. Using an intersectionality-informed perspective, the review examines how poverty, ethnicity, gender, and institutional processes jointly shape unequal health experiences and outcomes. A structured search of publications addressing Roma health, healthcare access, discrimination, social determinants of health, gender inequalities, and intercultural health mediation informed the analysis. The reviewed literature suggests that health inequalities among Roma populations emerge through the interaction of material deprivation, residential segregation, discrimination, administrative barriers, and gendered social expectations. Roma women frequently experience cumulative disadvantage because these mechanisms operate simultaneously across several domains of life. The findings also indicate that healthcare institutions may reproduce inequalities through administrative and relational processes. Intercultural health mediation is identified as a recurrent institutional response to some of these barriers, particularly those affecting communication, trust, and healthcare navigation, although available evidence remains heterogeneous and context-dependent. By foregrounding these interactions, this review contributes to debates on health equity, poverty reduction, and ethnic health disparities in Europe.