Author
Persons with a residence permit have the same access to health care as any person living in Sweden. Information about health care can be found in different languages on the website www.informationsverige.se. Health care access differs from county to county or region to region.
Persons who are victims of torture and in need of rehabilitation do not always get prompt help and the queue for treatment, which is often lengthy, is on the increase. The county health authorities are the main providers of health care but the Swedish Red Cross also has a number of rehabilitation centres and extensive experience of treating victims of torture.
The Public Health Agency of Sweden found that there was an overrepresentation of persons being infected by Covid-19 among persons born in other countries than Sweden, with persons born in Turkey, Somalia and Iraq being particularly affected during parts of the pandemic. Socio-economic factors have been identified as the cause of this.[1]
All persons who want to get vaccinated against Covid-19 will be offered access to vaccines, including beneficiaries of international protection, undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. If a person is undocumented and has difficulties to follow the measures enforced by the Swedish Public Health Agency to reduce the spread of corona, they might be offered to receive the vaccine at an earlier stage. In Sweden, there are four phases of the vaccination. Concerning undocumented persons, they would then be able to receive the vaccine in phase three.[2]
[1] See Public Health Agency of Sweden, Födelseland och risken att drabbas av covid-19, available in Swedish at: https://bit.ly/3rMBCCV, and Läkartidningen, Utlandsfödda är överrepresenterade bland de smittade, available in Swedish at: https://bit.ly/3duUr8u, and SVT, Inkomst är mest avgörande för dödlighet i corona, available in Swedish at: https://bit.ly/31F0eCO.
[2] Swedish Refugee Law Center. Information about Corona for asylum-seekers or people residing in Sweden without papers. Available at: https://bit.ly/3rBtvZM.