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Admittedly, this solution has a downside: Swedish national culture and traditions, government efforts to nurture and develop them are not equally accessible to the country’s increasingly diverse population.
The more isolated segments of the population are not strongly embedded in the prevailing culture and are less familiar with government information on the pandemic.
The Swedish Public Health Agency carried out a study, the results of which were published on April 14. It turned out that a disproportionate number of immigrants, especially from Somalia, Iraq and Syria, registered with COVID-19 in Swedish hospitals. For example, although Somalis living in Sweden represent just over half a percent of the country’s population, they account for almost 5 percent of all confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
The agency’s figures were released shortly after the results of a study by the Stockholm health authorities. According to the latter, some areas of the capital inhabited by a large number of immigrants are among the areas most affected by the coronavirus.
Residents of the northern Rinkeby-Kista district were most affected, on April 6. There, 238 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. This figure corresponds to 47 cases out of 10,000. population and is more than three times greater than the regional average (13 cases per 10,000 inhabitants).
“In the future, we will need to do more research to understand how this situation arose,” said Per Brinkem. He was a journalist for 20 years and then became involved in integration issues and most recently works with a Somali community organization based in Rosengard, a Malmö suburb of the country’s third largest city.
Brinkemo believes that the Swedish authorities do not want to take into account the impact of cultural differences on people’s behavior.
After writing the book Between Clan and State: Somalis in Sweden, which was published in 2014, Brinkemo traveled the country conducting seminars for local bureaucrats and politicians on the book’s main idea. . and. that the integration of Somalis and other immigrants is often marked by a conflict between “the extremely collectivist peculiarities of foreign culture and Swedish hyperindividualism”.
The Swedish government or authorities are very reluctant to differentiate between people of different ethnic backgrounds, the former journalist said. “It is a best wishes attitude, but it can be dangerous,” Brinkem said.
The Swedish Civil Contingency Agency for Public Safety and Emergency Management has recognized that the translation of coronavirus information into other languages has been delayed. In recent weeks, the agency has launched a campaign to inform immigrant communities.
“Better late than never,” said Brinkem, insisting that information should not only be translated, but also transmitted to different groups in various ways.
Anders Tegnellis
He also described the challenges he faced in trying to inform immigrants living in Malmö about the Swedish state’s social security system. Mr. Brinkemo held several public seminars at the community center, but hardly anyone attended them, despite the written announcements. Then he started calling people in person and inviting them with coworkers, and then the community center was full.
“I was confused, but my fellow Somalis seemed a little surprised. They explained that they come from a community with a very strong oral tradition, which has little experience in communicating with state institutions in their home country and relies primarily on information obtained directly from a known source, the man said. “In Sweden, the opposite is true: we are used to written communication, we generally assume that the official information is correct, and we are no strangers to interpreting the instructions of the authorities, we know how to follow them.”
The former journalist believes that when the government and relevant authorities transmit information and recommendations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unlikely that they will reach the majority of immigrants living in the country. Partly because many of them are not interested in the Swedish media, but also because the language of the information and the recommendations is abstract: a certain result is implicit in terms of how people will follow them.
In fact, the subtleties of the bureaucratic apparatus are not always obvious to Swedes either. When chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell was asked at a press conference to clarify what the recommendation of the Public Health Agency, which is the basis for formulating Sweden’s coronavirus strategy, means, “We are talking about Swedish culture. when Swedes understand the authorities’ recommendations. I think a lot of people have it [rekomendaciją] He sees it as very clear advice on how to do certain things in the best possible way … And vice versa: if we use the Swedish word obligatory, it will mean a legal obligation to do something. For this reason, we use the recommended word quite frequently. “
Tegnell agrees that each group of immigrants must be treated differently. “Any country with any kind of public health strategy knows this. We are effectively communicating with immigrant communities, for example, about the national vaccination program, “said the chief epidemiologist, adding that it is too early to conclude why some people born in Sweden in other countries are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
“There are a lot of parameters to take into account,” he said, but he did not support the idea that the Public Health Agency’s reliance on a set of rules that took several centuries was one of the factors that could explain why Swedish citizens were born in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere are now overrepresented in COVID-19 case statistics. “I don’t think it’s a conclusion yet,” said Tegnell.
Many residents of Sweden’s migrant areas agree that there are several confusing factors. Cultural differences are only one of them. Somali-born Ahmed Abdirahman, who lives in the Tensta suburb of northern Stockholm, was one of the first to notice the spread of a coronavirus in his community.
“Several Swedish-born Swedish citizens live in isolated suburbs with a population of up to 80%. Composed of immigrants or immigrant children, Abdirahman said.” For example, more than half of Stockholm’s Somalis live in the same area, for not surprisingly, with the spread of COVID-19, coronavirus statistics quickly saw an unusually high percentage of Somalis. “
“In addition, there are quite a few people in the suburbs living in deprivation and overcrowded housing. Multi-generational housing is quite common in low-income households,” he added. qualified, like driving a taxi. “
Recently, A. Abdirahman, known in political circles for hosting a popular annual political festival in the Stockholm suburbs, met with Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lovin. He said he regretted that insufficient measures had not been taken in time and mentioned several new initiatives, such as the city government’s plan to offer housing to the elderly to help them isolate themselves.
However, writer and activist Nuri Kino, who is only examining the impact of the pandemic on immigrants, especially in his Assyrian / Syrian community in Sweden, still finds it difficult to convey certain messages to the authorities and the media about widespread fears. of stigmatizing immigrant communities.
“I tried to point out that several people living in severely affected areas work in nursing homes or care for patients in their homes, but they don’t have enough guarantees,” said Kino, who had run a nursing home for two years. “I understand this is a sensitive issue, as it could lead to allegations, but there is a risk factor in this area that should at least be considered.”
In early April, Swedish media reported that a third of the country’s nursing homes had COVID-19 cases. April 16 The Public Health Agency reported that a third of all COVID-19 deaths (1,333 coronavirus victims were confirmed in Sweden at the time) occurred in nursing homes.
Although a significant proportion of staff in nursing homes are immigrants (28% of workers were born in another country), the number is even higher in Stockholm, at 55%, according to the National Board of Health and Welfare, according to Tegnell. pure speculation. “
The epidemiologist said a study is being done to try to find out why the new coronavirus has spread to the Swedish system of care for the elderly. Until it is completed, “it is better not to starve.” Mr. Tegnell does not rule out the need for different measures in different parts of Stockholm in the future to face the specific challenges of the area.
However, the prevailing principle of Swedish public health seems to be “freedom to take responsibility”, according to which there is no need to deprive everyone of fundamental freedoms, as long as the majority of the population assumes individual responsibility for comply with the recommendations.
Brinkemo is convinced that not all Swedes, both local and immigrant, can be assumed to have an intuitive understanding of this principle, but it can be learned. Many members of immigrant communities appear to have begun spreading information about social isolation and the government’s own recommendations, from Somali doctors who post informational videos on Facebook to local celebrities who use their social media accounts to talk about the pandemic.
“This is probably the most effective way: Reliable sources simplify bureaucracy and communicate with people orally, rather than relying on official flyers and posters,” said Brinkem. “It is now to be expected that this form of communication will be an integral part of the national strategy when another pandemic occurs.”
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