In the first month of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden took the same strategy as most other countries, working to "flatten the curve," by slowing transmission so that the healthcare system could cope with the disease. However, unlike most other countries, much of Sweden's implementation focused on voluntary and stepwise action, rather than legislation and compulsory measures, leading to considerable attention in the international media. Six main narratives emerged in the international media reporting on Sweden during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) Life is normal in Sweden, (2) Sweden has a herd immunity strategy, (3) Sweden is not following expert advice, (4) Sweden is not following WHO recommendations (5) the Swedish approach is failing and (6) Swedes trust the government. While these narratives are partially grounded in reality, in some media outlets, the language and examples used to frame the story distorted the accuracy of the reporting. This debate examines the ways in which international media both constructs and represents a pandemic, and the implications for how researchers engage with news and social media. Crosscountry comparison and the sharing of best practice are reliant on accurate information. The Swedish example underlines the importance of fact checking and source critique and the need for precision when presenting data and statistics. It also highlights limitations of using culture as an explanation for behavior, and the pitfalls of evaluating policy during a pandemic.
Culture shock is the depression and anxiety experienced by many people when they travel or move to a new social and cultural setting. Although many anthropologist experience culture shock whilst in the field, this is a subject that is rarely discussed in the academic setting. This article explores the issue of culture shock and offers some thoughts on how to relieve it, drawing on the author's own experiences.
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AbstractComplex security environments are characterized by violence (including, but not limited to "armed conflict" in the legal sense), poverty, environmental disasters and poor governance. Violence directly affecting health service delivery in complex security environments includes attacks on individuals (e.g. doctors, nurses, administrators, security guards, ambulance drivers and translators), obstructions (e.g. ambulances being stopped at checkpoints), discrimination (e.g. staff being pressured to treat one patient instead of another), attacks on and misappropriation of health Despite the urgency and impact of violence affecting healthcare delivery, there is an overall lack of research that is of health-specific, publically accessible and comparable, as well as a lack of gender-disaggregated data, data on perpetrator M A N U S C R I P T
A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT2 motives and an assessment of the 'knock-on' effects of violence. These gaps limit analysis and, by extension, the ability of organizations operating in complex security environments to effectively manage the security of their staff and facilities and to deliver health services. Increased research collaboration among aid organizations, researchers and multilateral organizations, such as the WHO, is needed to address these challenges.
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