TRADITIONAL BELIEFS HINDERING THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 IN BOACHIPE

Mbamba Mark Osman, Focal person for Central Gonja

Story by: Mbamba Mark Osman, Buipe (April 15, 2020)

 Some residents of Boachipe, a farming community in the Central Gonja district of the Savannah Region believe they are immune from contracting the novel Coronavirus disease. This, they say, is because their gods they consulted told them not to worry about the virus. As a result, residents are going about their normal business with the belief that they don’t need to observe the protocols outlined by the experts amid this pandemic.

 In a bit to educate residents of Boachipe on the protocols outlined the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the DCMCs, led by the People for Health (P4H) focal person, Mbamba Mark Osman, met with elders and opinion leaders in the community. They indicated that, they have the biggest and most potent shrine in the district and that it has never let them down. Therefore, they prefer to listen to the directives of the shrine than to follow the protocols of health experts. To the utter shock of the DCMC, elders and opinion leaders affirm their position that ‘‘…the gods have told us that the disease would not get to us, so we are not concerned about it’’. This mind-set has made the education drive in the community difficult for residents to assimilate.

It is, therefore, important that those in authority such as the Assembly, District Security Council (DISEC) the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the District Health Management Team (DHMT) intervene by increasing public education and enforcing compliance with the laid down protocols.