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Conceptual unclarity about COVID-19 ethnic disparities in Sweden: Implications for public health policy

Bredström, Anna and Mulinari, Shai LU (2023) In Health 27(2). p.186-200
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on abundant racial and ethnic health disparities in many countries around the world. In Sweden, statistics on COVID-19 mortality and morbidity from both the first and the second wave of the pandemic show that foreign-born individuals have been disproportionately affected as compared to Swedish-born individuals. However, as demonstrated in this article, key stakeholders including politicians and public authorities, mainstream media, and medical researchers do not draw on the same explanatory framework when conceptualizing the health disparity. Probing the different discourses that were articulated through oral and written accounts during the first wave, the article identifies three different frameworks... (More)
The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on abundant racial and ethnic health disparities in many countries around the world. In Sweden, statistics on COVID-19 mortality and morbidity from both the first and the second wave of the pandemic show that foreign-born individuals have been disproportionately affected as compared to Swedish-born individuals. However, as demonstrated in this article, key stakeholders including politicians and public authorities, mainstream media, and medical researchers do not draw on the same explanatory framework when conceptualizing the health disparity. Probing the different discourses that were articulated through oral and written accounts during the first wave, the article identifies three different frameworks of how ethnic health disparities in relation to COVID-19 were understood in Sweden: the socioeconomic framework, the cultural framework and the biological framework. In a concluding discussion, we discuss the importance of our findings for health policy and argue for continued interrogation of epidemiological knowledge production from a critical vantage point in order to successfully combat health inequalities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Covid-19 pandemic, discourse, ethnicity, race, Sweden
in
Health
volume
27
issue
2
pages
186 - 200
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85124581237
  • pmid:35152788
ISSN
1363-4593
DOI
10.1177/13634593221074866
project
A New Biologism? How Medical Research, Policy and Clinical Practice Approach Ethnic Differences in Health
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1d019e72-afb9-4a62-9897-0713b37784a0
date added to LUP
2021-12-08 14:25:22
date last changed
2023-03-13 15:51:04
@article{1d019e72-afb9-4a62-9897-0713b37784a0,
  abstract     = {{The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on abundant racial and ethnic health disparities in many countries around the world. In Sweden, statistics on COVID-19 mortality and morbidity from both the first and the second wave of the pandemic show that foreign-born individuals have been disproportionately affected as compared to Swedish-born individuals. However, as demonstrated in this article, key stakeholders including politicians and public authorities, mainstream media, and medical researchers do not draw on the same explanatory framework when conceptualizing the health disparity. Probing the different discourses that were articulated through oral and written accounts during the first wave, the article identifies three different frameworks of how ethnic health disparities in relation to COVID-19 were understood in Sweden: the socioeconomic framework, the cultural framework and the biological framework. In a concluding discussion, we discuss the importance of our findings for health policy and argue for continued interrogation of epidemiological knowledge production from a critical vantage point in order to successfully combat health inequalities.}},
  author       = {{Bredström, Anna and Mulinari, Shai}},
  issn         = {{1363-4593}},
  keywords     = {{Covid-19 pandemic; discourse; ethnicity; race; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{186--200}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Health}},
  title        = {{Conceptual unclarity about COVID-19 ethnic disparities in Sweden: Implications for public health policy}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/114063849/13634593221074866.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/13634593221074866}},
  volume       = {{27}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}