Fred Drah, who beat the coronavirus disease and has dedicated his time to advocate against the stigmatization of people who survived it has disclosed that publicly admitting he contracted the virus affected his livelihood and relationships.
The commercial driver at the Tema Habour noted that after he started making his television and radio rounds, sharing his COVID-19 story, “people did not want to come near me and my business suffered”.
“Before contracting the virus, I transported people from Tema Harbor but after sharing my story on TV, people did not want me anywhere close to them and my business suffered. Last year was very terrible, especially after I came back from my 4-week stay at the hospital. It was hard but some media houses and persons who saw and heard me sharing my story on TV and radio helped me. My church also helped”, he shared.
According to Fred, it got to a point that the money he had become useless as traders and shops around his home refused to sell to him.
He admitted that regardless of the increase in public sensitization of COVID-19, there are still some people who stigmatize COVID-19 survivors.
Asked by Samuel Eshun, host of the Happy Morning Show if his family was in support of him making these public appearances at a time where the stigma was high, Fred noted that not all of them supported him.
He acknowledged that some of his family members encouraged him whilst others accused him of dragging the family name into disrepute.
“My wife used to go with me on these media rounds but when the stigma became high, it affected her too and she refused to do any of such interviews. But I kept on with it because of the pain I suffered”.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the World in the early days of 2020, disrupting businesses, world economies and life as we know it.
Ghana’s Ministry of Health confirmed the first two cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Thursday, March 12, 2020. Authorities announced that the individuals had returned to Ghana from Norway and Turkey.
Stigma against survivors of COVID-19 (and their families) emerged as a major issue in Ghana after the first community cases were recorded.
There exists widespread misconceptions and fear of people who have recovered from COVID-19, as they are believed to pose a health risk to others. Survivors of COVID-19 are widely avoided and stigmatized.
As a result, people with COVID-19 symptoms are often reluctant to be tested, for fear of being stigmatized if the result is positive.
By: Joel Sanco
