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  • Title: Experiences against HIV/AIDS/STDS of Somalis in exile in Gothenburg, Sweden.
    Author: Aden AS, Dahlgren L, Guerra R.
    Journal: Ann Ig; 2004; 16(1-2):141-55. PubMed ID: 15554520.
    Abstract:
    Since 1989, the City of Göteborg Immigrant Services Administration has been making efforts to inform about HIV/AIDS. The purpose has been to ensure that even immigrant residents of the City of Göteborg (Gothenburg) have access to relevant information about HIV/AIDS. The administration's efforts have been a part of the collected efforts of Gothenburg to prevent the spreading of HIV. This paper attempts to discover and describe experiences against HIV/AIDS/STDs of Somalis in Exile in Gothenburg, Sweden. A qualitative sociological in-depth interviews with 13 individuals (6 women and 7 men) and with semi-structured and themetized emerging design was carried on. A follow up focus group interviews with 10 individuals (2 women and 8 men) was also performed. The paper reveals that the general understanding of subjects on the issues under discussion is almost the same though details may vary from one research participant to the other. They have described this through narratives. STDs and specially HIV/AIDS was perceived as something dishonourable by the subjects. The HIV/AIDS is perceived as a sin which Allah sends to punish those who have fornication or sex without marriage (Zinna). Of course, this tendency of shying off the problem leads to ignorance of how to behave, which in turn decreases the risk of perceptions and as a result may also increase the risk of being infected. As concerns protection as a preventive measure, attitudes vary. The traditionalists have argued that condom increased the possibility of promiscuity or fonication, while young and more modern people saw condom as something good. We may conclude that Somalis who have arrived in Western world and in Sweden as adults did never have a modern sexual education for themselves due to socio-cultural reasons and this has important implication for giving proper information to their children about sex organs, human sexual development and preventive measures against HIV/AIDS/STDs. These immigrant parents should be offered culturally sensitive communication and educational programmes aimed at raising their awareness about teenagers sexuality and the preventive measures against HIV/AIDS/STDs.
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