The Born in Bradford (BiB) COVID-19 research study: An adaptive, mixed methods, longitudinal study of the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities in families living in Bradford

There is increasing evidence that the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing health inequalities, with those from black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups and people living in deprived communities being more likely to be impacted by the restrictions to life and work. Bradford is a large, multi-ethnic city, with high levels of poverty and ill-health. These factors mean there is a significant proportion of people in the city who are particularly vulnerable to the wider impacts of the pandemic response. Born in Bradford (BiB) is a research programme that is tracking the lives of over 30,000 people in the city to find out what influences the health and wellbeing of families. This project aims to better understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health, wellbeing and economic security of ethnically diverse families, both in the short and long term. Research priorities will be identified by a community steering group and used to develop a series of surveys of BiB families over the coming year. In-depth interviews will explore key priorities in greater depth. The community steering group will help to interpret and disseminate findings. These findings will then be looped into city decision making, and later stages of the research flexed to account for emerging priorities. The results of this research will help local and national policy makers plan for recovery and make efforts to reduce the impact on health, education and other inequalities.