Stigmatization of patients or suspected persons with Coronavirus can cause more spread of the disease if not avoided.
Ghana currently has 1,042 confirmed cases of Covid19 with 9 deaths while, some patients are awaiting discharge after showing signs of recovery and testing negative from the disease.
This was announced by President Nana Akufo Addo during his 7th address to the nation on the progress made so far in the fight against Covid19.
And as there are significant signs of dealing with the disease,another threat in the country that needs to be dealt with before it escalates is reported instances of ‘stigmatization’ against patients suspected to be carrying or testing positive for virus.
Though education in various forms and platforms have been intensified to create awareness of the disease, some Ghanaians seem to be skeptical about their health to the extend of avoiding families,relatives and patients of the Coronavirus.
But Upper East Regional Minister,Tangoba Abayage has indicated that if the trend of stigmatization is not checked,it can led to the spread of infections since patients may not be willing to comply with the directive of self isolation or quarantine.
The Minister wrote this on her Facebook handle after a meeting with the Covid19 Team in the region.
“I chaired a Covid19 Rapid Response Team Meeting to assess progress in the Region so far.I was briefed on the status of the seven persons so far affected by the virus and under treatment, the preparedness of the GHS to receive and quarantine or self-isolate victims and availability of PPEs in the Region. The Region is doing well to manage the situation and all actors must be commended.It became clear that if care isn’t taken, however, stigmatization of patients or suspected victims will let people run underground and rather cause more spread” she said.
Madam Tangoba added that “we owe it a duty to ourselves, families, loved ones and communities to SPREAD CALM AND NOT FEAR! HumanLivesMatter”.
Meanwhile, the Upper East Region has recorded eight confirmed cases of Covid19 and contact tracing is underway.
Source:A1radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Ghana
