Kronans Apotek supports the Arab community with information about coronavirus

In today’s multicultural societies, language barriers create a risk that important information related to coronavirus does not reach all citizens. To improve patient safety and support the health of Swedish Arab community, Oriola’s pharmacy chain Kronans Apotek has started to produce information material in Arabic together with Aktarr, an online news media for Arabic-speaking people in Sweden.

Societies around the world are now working to prevent spreading of the new coronavirus and to flatten the curve of infections to reduce the pressure on healthcare systems. To succeed in this, it has become crucial for healthcare authorities to reach all citizens to raise awareness of important instructions.

In Sweden today, one out of five from the population has been born abroad, and Arabic is now the second most common native language. To support the health of the Arab community, Kronans Apotek has produced information about the coronavirus Covid-19 in Arabic together with Aktarr, an Arabic online news platform in Sweden. An information video about coronavirus in Arabic has been published on Aktarr’s website.

Anders Torell, Vice President of Business Area Consumer at Oriola, hopes that the collaboration can improve the communication with Arabic-speaking citizens to reduce the society's costs and save lives:

“People are concerned of the situation, including people who don´t understand Swedish and might confuse the coronavirus with a flu. We want to create equal possibilities for all citizens to access correct information. We all must help to decrease the burden for Swedish healthcare, which is under heavy pressure. Improving our communication in other languages is a part of this, and our way of contributing,” says Torell.