Conceptual unclarity about COVID-19 ethnic disparities in Sweden: Implications for public health policy
(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:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1d019e72-afb9-4a62-9897-0713b37784a0
- author
- Bredström, Anna and Mulinari, Shai LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-03-01
- 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}}, }