COVID-19 Crisis Highlights Complex Intertwining of Religious and Cultural Factors in Changing Public Health Behavior: The Somali Diaspora in Sweden
 
In every part of the world religious leaders and communities are interacting with public health professionals in new, generally positive ways in the common effort to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Much reporting, however, focuses on the exceptions where public health advice is contested or ignored. In some instances this reflects deeply held theological positions, perhaps best addressed through dialogue within religious communities. Politics also enters the picture at times. What is more difficult to address is when cultural and religious practices combine in ways that complicate efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

An example from Sweden highlights the challenge. Somali-Australian researcher Othman A. Mahamud (International Center for Violent Extremism) learned that 40 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Stockholm were from the Somali diaspora (and 18 percent of deaths nationwide). To understand better how and why the Somali diaspora was disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, he conducted informal polling research via the Somali Facebook global diaspora. This suggested five factors explaining disproportionate deaths among the Somali community: 1) Extremist clerics on the internet and on the ground were encouraging dissent from health recommendations and insisting that only non-Muslims would contract COVID-19 as fate is determined by Allah; 2) Widespread disregard and mistrust of advice from authorities; 3) Ignorance and lack of information due to language barriers; 4) The fact that members of the Somali diaspora tend to live in large, overcrowded multigenerational family units with sick and elderly relatives; and 5) Strong Somali traditions of frequent social gatherings, mosque going, and family celebrations that were little altered in the face of the pandemic.

These findings suggest some important lessons, notably the importance of reaching out to respected leaders of communities that present particular risks, with well adapted communication that goes beyond standard public health messages. When the Somali death toll skyrocketed, Swedish authorities began to translate health information into the Somali language to ensure better outreach. The experience also highlights the importance of following and acting to counter patterns of misinformation, especially those emanating from leaders who are respected within specific communities.

(Based on: April 3, 2020, GTSC's Homeland Security Today article and April 15, 2020, EU Observer article)