What’s it that this scientific community will not allow us to rest and think about ourselves! Your guess is as good as mine. But we’re not in the isolation world, we live in scientific world where we cannot see and understand everything although we have eyes. Diseases caused by organisms we cannot see with our naked eyes really exist so we must think the way forward to make this world habitable although we are mortal beings.

Yellow fever is a real disease caused by yellow fever virus. It can be deadly sometimes if contracted. It has no known treatment but symptomatic treatment. The good news is that there is vaccines to prevent this unpleasant disease. WHO described this disease as “acute viral hemorrhagic disease” because when one is infected, it starts as sudden but can be severe with bleeding from the mouth, nose, eyes or stomach. Within three to four days, an infected person may experience fever, headache, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. Others may move to the toxic stage where the liver and kidneys may be infected leading to prominent backache ( this is an indication of kidney disease), jaundice ( yellowing of the skin, eyes) because the liver is not able to perform its functions. This yellowing of the skin and eyes led to the name yellow fever.

According to WHO, about half of those infected who developed these severe symptoms die within seven to ten days. This shows how serious this disease is. One may ask where this disease is coming from? The Yellow Fever is transmitted when one is bitten by infected Aedes Aegyptic mosquitoes. In the Forest, the monkey becomes a reservoir for this yellow fever virus if the monkey is bitten by infected Aedes Aegyptic mosquitoes.

Population within tropical regions like the Sub-Sahara Africa and Central and South America are at risk of yellow fever. This explains why one is traveling to such areas, it is required of him or her to have the yellow card to check the records of yellow fever vaccination. In 2016, Yellow fever became a global threat as it became “urbandemic” in Luanda-Angola, Kinshasa-DR. Congo and the disease being exported to China.

WHO projected to have more than one billion people protected against yellow fever through vaccination by the end of 2026. Together we can do this. A healthy population is a healthy economy! Let work together to make this world a better place for you and me. Just a single dose of yellow fever vaccine is adequate to build sustained immunity and produce a life-long protection against yellow fever. Ghana has started the yellow fever vaccination exercise again, let all get involve to make Ghana, a better country as well as a habitable world to continue procreation.

Yellow fever vaccines are live, weakened form of the yellow fever virus giving as a single shot. This vaccine mimics like the disease as soon as it gets into your system such as weakness, headaches and others because the vaccine becomes antigen which stimulates immune response from the body to produce antibodies to protect you against the disease then after sometime, your body resumes to the normal functioning state. This is why some people have the perception that the vaccine rather makes you sick. But it does not make you sick rather triggers immune response. As I write this, I have taken my single dose of yellow fever vaccines to protect me, what of you and your family! Kindly tell a friend to tell a friend that a single dose of yellow fever vaccines can save the world so let do this together. Thank you for reading. All comments are welcome.

Credit:

1. https://www.who.int

2. https://www.cdc.gov

3. https://mayoclinic.org

I came into this world on 31st December, 2019. I became more dangerous in early January to late March, 2020. Most people in the world became scared of me cos I can infect you easily through micro droplets that you cannot see with your naked eyes. I spread when one infected person talks or coughs or sneezes or blows the nostril without covering the mouth and nostril with tissue or face mask.

Most people were scared of their lives so were health conscious then. The new normal; hand washing and wearing of face mask became part and parcel of our life. Others too were running for Vitamin C, Garlic, Ginger, “Pr3k3se3”, “dawadawa” and others, just to boost our immune system to fight COVID-19. But too soon, we have forgotten how COVID-19 tormented us. We have failed to acknowledge the lessons to adjust our lives. We have returned to our old normal lives. We have neglected the habit of hand washing, wearing of face mask, social distancing and others. We are behaving as if everything is normal just because COVID-19 cases are going down.

We have soon forgotten that COVID-19 has taken more than one million (1,000,000) lives, who might be our brother or our sister or a friend or our father, our mother and/or a cousin. We have soon forgotten COVID-19 has taken the lives of someone we dearly love. In Ghana only, we have lost 320 loved ones who are doctors, nurses, lawyers, politicians, celebrities and others.

We have soon forgotten that COVID-19 was able to lockdown the whole world where we were restricted free movement from places to places. COVID-19 was able to take our democratic right as freedom of movement. These pockets of lockdowns within the world affected the economy, hence policy softening from various governments started but it seemed we have too soon forgotten that.

My fellow Ghanaians as His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, the President of Republic of Ghana always used to say, please, do we want to go back to lockdown as some countries like France, German, South Africa, Canada, Wales are experiencing second wave of COVID-19? Second wave in this context means the cases of COVID-19 are outrageously going higher which calls for alarm, which might be as a result of our neglect of the new normal such as wearing of face mask, social distancing and hand washing.

Please, let us have in mind that only two confirmed cases in Ghana took us to 48,643 confirmed cases now (as at 1st November, 2020). We will never be free and go about our normal activities of daily living without observing the new normal ( wearing of face mask, hand washing and social distancing). The virus is still with us, and has come to stay. COVID-19 is now part of the list of diseases in the world like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, Malaria, Typhoid fever, yellow fever and others so we must learn to live with the virus as the Health Minister of Ghana, Hon. Kwaku Agyeman Manu always reiterates. Living with the virus means whatever we are doing, we should have it in our mind that the virus is still around, hence we should observe the new normal ( hand washing, wearing of face mask and social distancing).

We can only relax and go back to our normal life if and only if we get the vaccine for COVID-19 so that everyone can be protected. Till then, we must adopt the new normal life; wearing of face mask, hand washing and social distancing to protect ourselves, our loved ones and the community at large. Never be misled that the virus is gone, if you loose-guard, you will the get virus, and you might not be lucky to survive. My brother, my sister, the virus is real. Ask NaaAshorkor, Jordan Ayewu and others. You will never understand till you get infected.

This discussion has become necessary due to the trends of new confirmed cases in Ghana in recent times. Let take a look at the confirmed cases in Ghana recently. Once upon a time, our new cases went as low as 30 then it started going up. The latest report as at 1st November, 2020 from Ghana Health Service dashboard is 132 new confirmed cases. The implication of this can be said that cases are gradually going up, if we don’t take the new normal very serious, we will get to second lockdown era again. And I hope you and I do not want that era again. Another observation made was that politicians seem not to care about our health, they’re doing rallies without observing the new normal protocols. This may suggest that politicians are not interested in our health but our votes to give them power to rule us. Please, let be health conscious cos health is wealth. Below is the trend analysis of new confirmed cases in Ghana from October to November, 2020 for your study.

Let be guided by this analysis to inform our decision on the new normal (wearing of face mask, hand washing and others). With this, we can make the world a better place for you and me to live, as Michael Jackson once said. Please, never say you are tired of wearing face mask or washing your hands cos the virus can make your life miserable and even kill you which is preventable.

I choose to wear face mask to protect me and you, will you do same for me? I thought you said you love me, if so then kindly choose to also wear the face mask to protect me.

#wecanpreventthe2ndwave.

#Ichoosetowearfacemaskforyousodosameforme.

Credit;

1. https://www.who.int

2.https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19

October 15 every year has been set aside by the United Nations to observe as global hand washing day due to the significant roles this behavioural activity plays. The theme for this year’s global hand washing day is Hand Hygiene for All, calling for all of society to achieve universal hand hygiene now and for the future.

COVID-19 pandemic made the world to know that the only way to prevent the spread of infections was hand washing with soap and wearing of face mask. The public as well as institutions adopted the new normal (that’s hand washing under running water with soap). Veronica buckets, soap and disposable tissues were easily seen at vantage points. As the COVID-19 cases in Ghana gradually going down, most people and institutions have disregarded the hand hygiene protocol.

Findings through personal observations were that one woman complained that she’s tired of washing her hands, and that what type of disease is this, that everywhere you go, you have to wash your hands. Another observation made was that some institutions are economising such that they added the liquid soap to the water in the Veronica bucket and neglected availability of disposable tissues for drying the hands. Others did not even fill the Veronica bucket at all for the public to use for hand washing while some have filled the Veronica bucket with water but no soap. Lastly, some institutions have complete hand washing facility but the public preferred hand sanitizer.

It appeared from my personal observations in Accra, Ghana that cost of maintaining hand washing facility was a challenge, there was attitudinal problem as well as ignorance about the benefits of hand washing.

Many studies showed that many diseases like cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, rotavirus, E.coli, Shigella and other communicable diseases like Ebola virus, COVID-19 start when the hands become contaminated with the disease-causing bacteria and virus. This means that when we practice hand washing with soap as habit with or without COVID-19, we can save our lives and prevent avoidable deaths. And this will have impact on our education system as well as our economic. This discussion will be in-depth in the subsequent paragraphs for you to appreciate hand washing with soap as an everyday habit.

According to WHO, globally, 3billion people lacked hand hygiene facilities at home, and 2 out of 5 health care facilities lacked hand hygiene at points of care.

According to UNICEF, 3 in 4 children lacked a basic hand washing service at their school at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

And these inadequate hand washing facilities have implications on our health, education, nutrition and economics.

Health.

According to WHO (2017), closely 525,000 children die from diarrhoea disease every year, and this accounts for one of the top killers of children globally. In fact, UNICEF (2017) reported that more than 20% of deaths of children under five years were caused by diarrhoeal diseases but pneumonia alone took 13% of child deaths. Most of these deaths are preventable if we take hand washing with soap as a habit.

The hands touch so many things within our activities of daily living, hence easily contaminated by disease -causing organisms which cannot be seen with our naked eyes. We are likely to use these contaminated hands to touch our mouth, eyes, nose or ears . Sometimes, we do eat with unwashed hands. All these lead to the rise of communicable disease like cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, and others.

After we visit the toilet or cough or sneeze or touch child’s excreta or before we eat or touch other people’s hands or touch any surfaces, we must wash our hands under running water with soap. The soap helps to kill the disease-causing organisms we cannot see with our naked eyes, and the running water helps to remove the disease-causing organisms from hands. This 20seconds activity can help us save our lives from diseases that can cripple us and kill us, save us cost from spending unnecessary exorbitant treatment, and also increase our productivity.

To my fellow health care providers, WHO (2017) findings proved that every year, 300 million patients under our care are affected by health care-associated infections (Nosocomial Infections) globally. And some causes of these problems were associated with lack of hand washing practices at the bed side. The burden of this action leads to prolonged stay of patients at the hospital, astronomical additional costs for the patients, unnecessary deaths and others. WHO further posited that only 40% of health care providers practice good hand washing globally, this means that it is very alarming for our health systems. As health care providers, let wash our hands with soap under running water before patient contact, after body fluid exposure risk, after patient contact, before aseptic task and after contact with patient surroundings.

Education.

I know you are curious to know how hand washing has impact on education. I am also thinking same.

Hutton and Haller (2004) cited in globalhandwashing.org found out that children missed a cumulative of 272 million school days each year due to diarrhea associated with lack of hand washing. When hand washing with soap was instituted in the various schools, it was found to help reduce school absenteeism caused by diarrhoea, influenca and conjunctivitis by up to 50%.

Another interesting revelations which I don’t know where to put it are menstrual hygiene, hand hygiene and productivity. Findings by WaterAid, WSSCC and Unilever (2013) cited in globalhandwashing.org was that 80% of factory workers in Bangladesh who were young women, 60% of them used dirty rags from the factory floor as menstrual clothes to clean. And this led to 73% of the (60%) young women missing work for an average of 6days per month due to infections. When hand washing facilities were put in place at the various wash rooms such as soap, disposable tissue and adequate flow of water, only 3% of the young women absent themselves from work.

Economics.

The Lancet (2013) asserted that the annual net cost of diarrhoea and pneumonia in some developing countries incurred more than 12 billion dollars per year. Meanwhile, the estimated cost of national hand washing program would be less than 100million dollars and generate a revenue of 2-5 billion dollars. This means that investing into hand washing activities like ensuring adequate hand washing facilities, public education and policy development and implementation produces Return On Investment. Additionally, when the population practices good hand washing, it prevents unnecessary spread of infections like cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, COVID-19 and others which increases productivity and this boosts the economy. A healthy population is a healthy economy !

It is therefore imperative for us all to come together in our small way as an individual, groups, government and others to see and sustain hand washing as a habit to maximise the impact as a community, nation and the globe at large. We as parents, teachers, health professionals and others can teach our children, students, patients, church or mosque or traditional members how to wash our hands with soap, and the benefits. Kindly share this article to increase the sensitisation to sanitise the public as Bob Wine does say. Thank you.

Sources.

1. https://globalhandwashing.org

2. https://www.who.int

3. https://www.sciencedirect.com

4. https://www.unicef.org

Today is World Mental Health Day, celebrated across the globe to reflect and assess the downs and progress of mental health care.

This year’s theme is Mental Health for all, greater investment-Greater access. Everyone. Everywhere.

The mental health care sector has been chronically suffocated with under-investment in the areas of mental health promotion, prevention and care.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), mental health is one of the most neglected areas of public health and close to 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide.

In low- and middle-income countries, more than 75% of people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all.

The situation in Ghana has brought untold hardship to mental health care givers, families of patients and the public.

Mental patients are seen across the length and breadth of our major cities. Families of such patients are either helpless or are uninformed of how to handle the situation.

It is disheartening for care givers to see patients on the street. More worrying it is if they have taken care of such patients before. It is demoralising and the psychological trauma upon seeing them is really troubling.

In the public space, more often than not, we hear people committing suicide, we see patients competing for space in our markets, a whole family poisoning themselves to death, boy friends and husbands butchering their love ones to death, people setting houses ablaze and what have you.

These people were not naked before committing this acts, neither were they on the streets. It tells us one thing; there are lots of people with mental disorders neatly dressed in suits, in our offices, churches, mosques and every corner of human endeavor.

Stigma, discrimination, inequality, outmoded legislation and human rights abuses against the mentally ill are still rife in Ghana to further deepen the woes in the mental health sector.

Government and policy makers who ought to play a key role in ameliorating the sector from its predicaments seem to be widening the gap of discrimination and stigma. It is sad to note that the medicine Amitriptyline which is used to treat both migraine and depression is covered under the NHIS for treating migraine but payable for treating depression.

The Ghana Health Service, an agency of the ministry of health, just like the Mental Health Authority is doing little for mental health under its facilities in both the regional and districts level. Mental health nurses working at these facilities are left with no choice than to go the extra mile to care for mental patients, putting themselves on the thin line of medicolegal issues but are not recognised and appreciated for same. Question is, will they have the backing by virtue of their location when the law rises against them?

The theme for this year couldn’t have been better; “Mental health for all, greater investment, greater access”. The theme is earnestly calling on government to invest more resources in the mental health sector for mental health care to reach all. There will be greater accessibility for mental health care if the sector is well resourced. Resourced in both capital and human resource.

The Mental health sector needs greater investment to be able to monitor and supervise the activities of prayer camps where human right abuses of patients are rampant.

The community mental health nurses will deliver mental health care to every patient within their catchment areas when the sector is well resourced.

The patients on the streets have the right to decent and humane treatment but this can barely be achieved when little attention is paid to the sector.

While we await this ‘greater investment’ day to come, hopefully soonest in the future, we are still working in poor condition, low pay and stigma.

Nonetheless I am proud as a mental health nurse.

I know you are proud too!

Happy Mental Health Day!

#MentalHealthDayCelebration2020

Malcolm Ali
chibaronet@gmail.com

Disclaimer; the content was produced by Malcom Ali but the heading was couched by the administrator of this blog. Thanks.

PhotoCredit; pure perfume oils.com

Kwasi Omaro; pure perfume and synthetic perfume, which one will you go for, and why?

Kwabena Agyeman; synthetic perfume because it has strong scent and keeps long on myself.

Kwasi Omaro; yes, very true bro: the synthetic perfume has powerful fixatives which is more volatile than pure or natural perfume. However, there are associated health implications for both.

Kwabena Agyeman; bro, please I am in interested in the health implications of both natural and artificial perfumes.

Kwasi Omaro; according to pure- perfume -oils.com, the pure perfume is wholly natural from essential oils obtained from flowers, shrubs, peel of fruits and others. This pure perfume has no harm on our body and environment unless one is allergic to any of the components. Bro, have you heard of aromatherapist and aromachologist?

Kwabena Agyeman; no please.

Kwasi Omaro; the aromatherapist is one who uses pure essential oils obtained from flowers, plants, trees, shrubs, roots or the peels of fruits (natural perfume) to treat but the aromachologist is one who has studied the relationship between odours/scents and the reactions they produce in humans. In short; this expert can determine how scents affect our mood, and for that matter our behaviours.

Kwabena Agyeman; so this means that perfume has both physical and psychological health effect?

Kwasi Omaro; exactly bro. According to some aromatherapists and aromachologists, pure perfume has analgesic, antibacterial and antidepressant properties which can be used to treat pain, infections as well manage anxiety, relax, restore and refresh the body, mind and soul. You can also use the pure perfume in a massage therapy.

Kwabena Agyeman; bro, this means that the pure perfume is preferable healthy?

Kwasi Omaro; yes bro. Before we proceed to discuss the artificial perfume, let me brief you on the history behind perfumes. In the early civilizations, people used odoriferous flowers for religious rituals like worship. It was also observed that when these odoriferous flowers are burnt, they produced very strong scent. These ideologies attracted the Assyrians and the Egyptians to start using then it had the Greece involved and finally diffuse to all part of the world.

Kwabena Agyeman; I see.

Kwasi Omaro; According to pure-perfume-oils.com, naturalhealthcourses.com and annmariegianni.com, most companies use powerful fixatives like Diethylphthalate (DEP) which is highly volatile to give synthetic perfumes the longevity of the scent you want on yourself, unlike the natural perfume which gives personal fragrance. You might see DEP on some synthetic perfumes label as neantine, peilatinol A and solvanol. These cosmetic players claimed that DEP is a known carcinogen linked to range of birth defects, decreased sperm counts and others as well as cited Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2001 study which revealed that synthetic perfume is linked to reproduction and development problems in human beings. They further argued that synthetic perfumes are associated to allergic reactions like eczema, asthma attacks, headaches, dizziness, skin rashes and skin irritation. These cosmetic players also opined that most cosmetic companies employ the strategy called trade-secret where they do not reveal the use of DEP in their ingredients label to hide it from the public.

Kwabena Agyeman (puzzles); does that mean any synthetic perfume that contain DEP is not healthy to use!

Kwasi Omaro; that’s what some of the cosmetic players are saying. Additionally, aromachologist Maa Bea Quaynor in an interview with GBC explained that storage temperature is very key. She said perfumes are supposed to be left in their containers and kept in refrigerators to keep the perfume healthy to use. Maa Bea Quaynor further reiterated that direct heat or sunlight unto perfumes make them poisonous although the scent remains in touch. And this can cause leukemia (cancer of the blood), hepatitis A, respiratory diseases, she added.

Kwabena Agyeman (in skeptical mood): bro, what is the credible medical organizations like the WHO, CDC and others saying on synthetic perfumes and DEP?

Kwasi Omaro: good question bro! A document sighted from WHO (2003) titled as Concise International Chemical Assessment Document 52 revealed Diethylphthlate (DEP) has no carcinogenic effect (cannot cause cancer) after this chemical was used on rats and mice but slight increase in size of their livers and kidneys.

Kwasi Omaro; CDC seemed to suggest that there is no studies involving human exposure to DEP but laboratory animals. CDC went further to explain that DEP is not known to cause cancer in humans or animals but appeared to decrease the number of live babies born to female animals who were exposed during the research. CDC also argued that there were birth defects in newborn rates who had high dose of DEP.

Kwabena Agyeman ( In discerning state); bro, this means that the cosmetic players’ arguments cannot be rejected totally, there’s some iota of truth based on the findings of WHO and CDC!

Kwasi Omaro; thinking the same, bro. European Commission also revealed that when the rats were exposed to DEP, there was slight redness of the skin where the DEP was applied as well as skin irritations in the subsequent weeks.

Kwabena Agyeman (in sagacious mood); bro, I will use natural/pure perfumes which have reduced scent longevity to stay healthy than to have strong and longevity scent synthetic perfume which can lead to many health problems.

Kwasi Omaro; bro, I am thinking same. Kwabena Agyeman Saluu, what have we learnt today?

Kwabena Agyeman; we learnt that natural/pure perfume are essential oils from flowers, plants and others while synthetic perfumes are man made from water, alcohol, DEP plus the essential oils. Natural perfumes have good health implications like treating some infections, insect bites, massaging, relaxation and others. The DEP in synthetic perfumes helps maintain the scent on yourself for longer period of time but has health implications on animals like skin irritations, birth defects and others which is not conclusive in the medical fraternity. More research needs to be done in this area.

Kwasi Omaro; excellent bro. Do you now agree that it is good to smell nice but you must price your health?

Kwabena Agyeman; Yeah.

Sources.

1. http://www.who.int>cicad

2. http://www.annmariegianni.com

3. https://naturalhealthcourses.com

4. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov

5. https://ec.europa.eu

6. http://www.pure-perfume-oils.com

7. GBC special report on perfumes.

8. http://www.researchgate.net

Personal experience of the author.

When I was Twelve (12) years, I visited my village at the Dormaa municipality called Nsesero with my mommy. There was a time I requested permission from my mommy to visit my grandmother(paternal) at the nearby village, Sokura, about 5km from Nsesero. My mommy whispered to me that my grandmother has been accused of witchcraft recently so should not get close to my grandmom but I refused. I murmured that your mommy (grandma-maternal) is not a “witch” but my dad’s mother is “witch”. As time goes on, psychologically, I became scared to get close to my grandma (paternal), and started withdrawing from her. Until I grew fourteen (14), I returned to my normal senses to get close to my grandma (paternal) because I learnt to understand old age in General Science, and this was reinforced in my nursing education where I did Gerontology ( study of old age), African studies ( where I did witchcraft as a topic). These educational trainings have changed the way I used to think about witchcraft and old age.

What the People Must Know.

Nana Ataa Ama (pseudo-name) is my grandma who is 100 years at Dormaa-Ahenkro, Sokura in the Bono region of Ghana. Nana Ataa Ama has gray hairs and bald hair which society sees unusual especially being a woman. She cannot easily recognise me as well as recollect present and past incidents easily. My grandma, Nana Ataa Ama has loss sense of smell and taste. She cannot see nor hear well.

This wonderful grandma always feels guilty, hopeless and inactive as well as having burning sensations on her body sometimes as if she has rashes. All these are signs and symptoms of old age, never associate them with witchcraft. Everyone is likely to experience these things when growing old. Ageing is progressive, ubiquitous and inevitable to all living things. Kindly empathise with the old people and treat them (aged) the way you want to be treated. As the Holy Bible says Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.

It was observed that as Nana Ataa Ama ages, her whole body became small in size due to the muscles wearing off, and reduced in height. She sweats a lot like ‘the pregnant fish’ during the night. Lol! Nana Ataa Ama does not urinate excessively like grand pa. Her skin is very dry with weak bones so we always ensure enhanced safety for her to prevent fracture from falls. Nana Ataa Ama is able to tell us stories which are documented although there is distortion in her thinking. Grandma Nana Ataa Ama cannot stand straight but shifted to one side of her body. Another key feature of old people observed from Nana Ataa Ama was that her skin has uneven colour in areas like the lips, face, neck, upper chest and back of her hands, which the science community called photoaging. It can be deduced that Ageing is biological and social construct. One goes through some changes as one grows which is a natural process.

Lastly, not every woman can marry at early age nor marry at all. It’s not the woman’s fault nor anyone’s fault if she has not married. It’s not her fault if the husband has died, making her a window nor the fault of anyone. Everything that happens is the will of God so society must understand and accept women the way they are. Everyone can be victim so as you judge now, think that you will the one to be judged the next time.

What benefit do we get from our old people?

1. We get oral tradition from them ( history).

2. Our Old people use their experience, knowledge and wisdom to resolve family/community and conflicts. My Grandpa is 100years plus and still playing this role in my wonderful village.

3. Our old people are the custodians of welfare of family.

Flashback.

The accused of gender related witchcraft is a huge challenge in Sub-Sahara Africa. Anyone who suffers sickness, bad luck or unfit to control his or her own destiny associate these to witchcraft psychologically. During the colonial era, witchcraft related functions were inhibited because it was thought to retrogress development, but this has reappeared in the 20th century in a form of exorcistic functions known in Churches as “Deliverance” and traditional world as “anti-witchcraft shrine”. However, it seems the story has still not changed in this 21st century, the concept of witchcraft has now shifted from traditional to modernity.

According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) (2018), one of the major cause of gender-related killing of women and girls is killings of women as a result of witchcraft accusation. Women in our society faced increasing risk as they approach old age because as said by Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata ( Development Sociologist, University of Ghana) cited in ActionAid (2012) that when society thinks these elderly women are no more useful, and are not conforming to what society expect, these elderly women become targets ( vulnerable). These women are threatened, fled discrimination and sometimes lynched to death after being accused as witch, and blamed for one’s sickness or curse or even just appearing in someone’s dream. For instance, in November, 2010, a 72 year old Ama Hammah at Tema, was set ablaze by five adults, with one of them believed to be a pastor after being accused of witch, and tortured to accept that accusation. Also, the recent one at Kafaba, East Gonja in the Savannah region of Ghana on Thursday, July 23rd, 2020 where a 90 year old Akua Denteh was lynched to death after being accused of witchcraft and the cause of the community’s sufferings.

According to ActionAid (2012), over 3,000 women in Ghana especially Northern belt are accused of witchcraft. Some of these ‘lucky’ accused witches may reach the witch camp. These women are ‘lucky’ because others who are accused are lynched or burned to death instantly without being heard ( mob justice). Now, do we maintain these so call witch camps to protect the life of accused witches or disband them? I am sure your guess is as good as mine. There are Seven (7) witch camps in the Northern part of Ghana. These include Gambaga, Kukuo, Gnani, Bonyase, Nabuli, Gushiegu and Kpatinga. All these camps are remote areas, very far from the main community, with inadequate food and water, making life inhabitable. These camps are made up of mud huts with flimsy thatched roofs, with little or no hope of normal life to these vulnerable women ( accused of witchcraft).

Old men are not excluded from these witchcraft accusations but the most commonest and majority is elderly women. The only advantage of accused wizards over accused witches is that some men are economically independent and have the strength to resist such human rights violence. What criteria do the people use to accuse these old women as witches? Any woman who is unable to fulfil expected gender stereotypes like widows, unmarried or cannot have children or behave strangely from what society expects then you’re branded as witch.

The Issues.

Deep Rooted Beliefs: Most society perceived that the natural environment is controlled by spiritual forces, hence anything that happens has spiritual relation which can only be controlled be sooth sayers/ fetish priest(priestess). For example; Akosua (pseudo-name) has severe abdominal pain, and may spiritualise her sickness but do not think it is physiological imbalance. These members of society believe that performing charms & rituals is the answer to any calamity. These people use avenues like families, chiefs and the shrines to perform these ritual activities.

Ignorance; Most community folks do not know the associated ageing issues, hence anyone seen behaving or showing signs that the community thinks is abnormal is associated with witchcraft. Moreover, most people perceived that at certain stage, a woman must marry, give birth and others. The strange weird issue is some people do not understand why that woman’s brothers or sisters will die, and she (accused witch) is alive and even grow old or very old.

Stereotyped Roles females play in film; Commonly, it is women who are given the role of acting as a “witch” in most African movies than men, and this affirms the perception society has for women.

The Gendered media; Media is permeating and very powerful. Media representation of men is that men are culturally standard but women are unimportant or invisible.

Failed System; Ghana’s constitution talks about rights of citizens, yet, these vulnerable alleged witches are dying inhumanly. Ghana has signed so many conventions like Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and others as well as systems such as Commission On Human Rights & Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) to enforce the law, then National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to sensitize the public, including policy document; National Gender Policy 2015 to protect the human rights and empower women are in place but there are still uprising witchcraft-related femicides in the country. The question you and I will ask is “why?”. The answer is simple; the state has not prioritize this area and ensure the systems work.

The Way Forward.

Community-based Social Marketing Sensitization; This is where you dialogue with community leaders and community folks to understand them from their point of view ( Emic perspective), and establish common ground for the sensitization process. This approach will help to end accusation and killing of alleged witches because everyone is involved in the process.

Other stakeholders’ engagements ; After the community engagement, it is imperative Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection collaborate with NCCE, HelpAge Ghana, Creative and Art Industry, CHRAJ, faith-based organisations, non-governmental organizations like ActionAid, National Media Commission and the media in the fight against witchcraft-related femicides.

NCCE together with HelpAge can get an expert in gerontology to help with message on old age and its associated issues to sensitize the community.

The Creative and Art Industry will help to avoid the stereotyped roles females play in movies/films.

There should be a dialogue with Faith-Based organisations like churches, mosques, shrines and others about their beliefs to reach a common ground to end witchcraft-related femicides.

The National Media Commission should be charged to monitor and validate gender appropriate media content programs.

The media should be engaged in terms of how it represents women in the media.

Passage of the Aged Bill into Law; Some of the findings of some researchers especially F.A. Agyemang (n.d) showed there is inadequate legal support for the aged, hence the need to pass the aged bill which has been at parliament since 2010. However, others like Kofi Bentil ( Vice President of Imani Centre for Education and Policy) thinks it is a system failure, hence the systems should be activated and function well. For instance, the police service, DOVVSU, CHRAJ and others should be well resourced and functional.

Old age is not an offense to be branded as a “witch” but a normal natural process.

It is not the fault of old women to behave ‘strangely’ as perceived by society but an inevitable process.

Everyone is likely to grow old, hence another time, it might be you or your sister or wife or mother or daughter who will be alleged as witch. It is therefore prudent to speak up against this witchcraft-related femicides. Say something if you see something! Kindly share with a friend to share with a friend to be part of anti witchcraft campaign or tell a friend to tell a friend to sensitize the youth against witchcraft and its related issues on women. Women’s life matter!

Sources.

1. http://www.pctii.org>cyberj10>onyinah

2. https://www.alz.co.uk>filespdf

3. https://www.unodc.org>gah PDF

4. https://www.actionaid.org.uk>…pdf

5. https://www1.udel.edu>Gen…pdf

6. https://www.mogcsp.gov.gh>national

7. https://VC.bridgew.edu>chi pdf

8. https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de>…pdf

9. https://fhs.mcmaster.ca>docspdf

10. https://www.chr.up.ac.za>filespdf

11. https://www.redalyc.org>pdf

12. https://www.who.int>knowledge

The emergent Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the global village into state of bizarre. This disease has affected all sectors, ranging from health, economic, job, agriculture, education, sports to politics, and others. This should tell us that the disease is real, not imaginary. Even if you suspect a bioattack from other countries, it still does not take the fact that COVID-19 does exist. A disease that has caused the whole world into psychological trauma, millions of people becoming jobless, taking the lives of 512, 842 people as at 02/07/2020, which is near the total population of Ga-South Municipal, Greater Accra-Ghana.

Diseases caused by microorganisms (cannot see with the naked eyes) are very infectious (that is can spread from one person to another). Most of these diseases are deadly, and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can never be taken out. Likewise, you believe that tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, cholera, typhoid fever, Ebola virus disease and others exist and can kill, same as COVID-19.

You only live once (YOLO) so it is very important to be in charge of your health. Never think that The President said ‘we’ should wash our hands with soap under running water, ‘we’ should wear face mask, ‘we’ should observe social distancing (2m/arm stretched), ‘we’ should stay home, so you are doing these for the President but we must understand that these practices help to break the chain of infection ( that’s prevent the spread of the disease). According to recent research done by the Japanese, the virus can travel through micro droplets, which means that when an unknown/ known infected person talks, the virus can travel through the droplets coming from the mouth ( cannot be seen with the naked eyes) to infect others. This explains why ‘we’ must wear our face mask to prevent that. Wearing face mask is not for fun but a necessity.

We have celebrities and high profile personalities like Playwright Terrence McNally, Actor Mark Blum, Radio Personality Dan Foster, US Senator Annie Glenn who have been swept away from the world by this deadly coronavirus disease. Now, Who’s next on the list? The Saxophonist and Jazz Singer Manu Dibango, Chef Floyd Cardoz, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Bishop Silas Njiru, Chief of staff to President Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari are all gone by COVID-19. Have you ever sat down quietly and asked yourself who’s next to get infected and die? Will it be me or you? The Chairperson of Electoral Commission, Guinea, Amadou Salif Kebe, a renowned Nigerian Doctor, Dr. Emefa Chugbo, our own renowned physician and former president of Ghana Medical Association, Prof. Jacob Plange-Rhule, Senegalese journalist Pape Diouf, and the most painful sudden Lawyer Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John), an astute Ghanaian politician were the next to join the ancestors.

We must therefore be concerned and worried and act accordingly. The question still remains, who’s next? You or me or we! The sad aspect is that not everyone who gets infected may survive, irrespective of your age, previous health status and others. So please wear your face mask if you’re moving out, practice the arm stretched distancing, wash your hands regularly with soap under running water and take more fruits and vegetables, so that you don’t get infected cos you might be the next who won’t be able to survive the COVID-19. Your live matter, our live matter.

Whenever you are moving out, recollect that who’s next to get infected and die to guide you in your safety protocol behaviors. The 500, 000 plus dead people started thinking like you and I that the disease is far from us but later realized they were next on the list. Goodbye. Thanks, and who’s next?

Credits

1. http://www.who.int

2. http://www.ghanahealthservice.org

3. http://www.ghanaweb.com

4. http://www.myjoyonline.com

5. http://www.businessinsider.com

6. http://www.citypopulation.de

Wear a mask campaign is the way to go to help slow down the spread of coronavirus within your country and the world at large. It is my responsibility to wear a mask to protect you, and your responsibility to wear a mask to protect me as well as our collective responsibility to wear mask to protect the community.

Nonetheless, the emerging problem from wearing face mask especially the ear loop ones (elastic face mask) cannot be overlooked. It must be a concern if we want to fight this biological enemy together who’s making this world uncomfortable for you and me. This emerging problem is the ear pain related to the use of ear loops face mask (elastic face mask) for longer period of time during the day.

This pain around the external ear ( ear lobe/pinna) is as a result of the pressure exerted by elastic face mask directly on the back of the ears for a longer period of time.

What is the solution to this problem!

1. One can wrap the face mask’s elastic straps around the clip rather than your ears to relieve direct pressure on the back of the ears.

2. Use a headband with buttons to create an alternative place to hook the elastic straps of the face mask rather than the ears to reduce pressure on the ears.

3. Put on face mask baseball cap and use it to hook the elastic straps of the face mask to relieve pressure on the ears.

4. Also, one can wrap the elastic straps of the face mask around the buttons of the scrub cap to reduce pressure on the ears.

5. The elastic ear straps if possible can be secured over the hair at the top of your head to relieve pressure on the ears.

6. Additionally, one can use tape or sizable rope to connect to the elastic straps of the face mask and make a knot at the back of the head to reduce the pressure on the ears.

7. Last but not least, use non-elastic face mask if possible.

Communicating when wearing a face mask.

1. Speak slowly and at a normal volume.

2. Take turns when speaking.

3. Minimize background noise.

4. Face each other at safe distance ( at least arm stretched distance).

5. Ensure those using hearing aids have them on.

6. Do not talk while walking.

7. Do not shout because it can be painful to a person with hearing loss.

Sources.

1. https://www.health.com>how-t…

2.https://www.nurse.org

3. https://www.healthyhearing.com