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Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana

Historically, infectious diseases have generated fears among populations. Unhealthy handling of these fears result in the stigma and discrimination of infected patients. Globally, measures taken so far by governments to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, altho...

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Autores principales: Osei, Eric, Amu, Hubert, Appiah, Prince Kubi, Amponsah, Solomon Boamah, Danso, Evans, Oppong, Samuel, Lotse, Comfort Worna, Owusu, Bright Emmanuel, Agongo, Simon Azure, Yakubu, Eliasu, Kye-Duodu, Gideon
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021222/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962445
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000307
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author Osei, Eric
Amu, Hubert
Appiah, Prince Kubi
Amponsah, Solomon Boamah
Danso, Evans
Oppong, Samuel
Lotse, Comfort Worna
Owusu, Bright Emmanuel
Agongo, Simon Azure
Yakubu, Eliasu
Kye-Duodu, Gideon
author_facet Osei, Eric
Amu, Hubert
Appiah, Prince Kubi
Amponsah, Solomon Boamah
Danso, Evans
Oppong, Samuel
Lotse, Comfort Worna
Owusu, Bright Emmanuel
Agongo, Simon Azure
Yakubu, Eliasu
Kye-Duodu, Gideon
author_sort Osei, Eric
collection PubMed
description Historically, infectious diseases have generated fears among populations. Unhealthy handling of these fears result in the stigma and discrimination of infected patients. Globally, measures taken so far by governments to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, although helpful, have created fears in people. Consequently, there are reported Ghanaian media cases of stigmatisation against persons who were infected and recovered from COVID-19. However, these reports remain unsubstantiated. This study, therefore, sought to examine stigma and discriminatory tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors among the adult population in Ghana. This was a population-based cross-sectional study among 3,259 adults. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics comprising frequency, percentage, chi-square, and multivariable logistic regression were employed in analysing the data. Knowledge on COVID-19 was poor among 33.6% of the participants. Forty-three per cent had a good attitude towards COVID-19. Nearly half (45.9%) exhibited stigma and discriminatory tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors. Participants who had poor COVID-19 related knowledge (aOR = 1.91, 95%CI = 1.59–2.29, p<0.001) and poor attitude towards COVID-19 (aOR = 5.83, 95% CI = 4.85–6.98, p<0.001) were more likely to exhibit stigma and discriminatory tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors. Our study found relatively high proportions of poor knowledge and negative attitudes towards COVID-19. Stigma and discriminatory tendencies were consequently high. Our findings call for increased public education on COVID-19 by the Ghana Health Service and the Information Services Department, to increase the level of knowledge on the pandemic while reducing stigma and discrimination associated with it.
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spelling pubmed-100212222023-03-17 Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana Osei, Eric Amu, Hubert Appiah, Prince Kubi Amponsah, Solomon Boamah Danso, Evans Oppong, Samuel Lotse, Comfort Worna Owusu, Bright Emmanuel Agongo, Simon Azure Yakubu, Eliasu Kye-Duodu, Gideon PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article Historically, infectious diseases have generated fears among populations. Unhealthy handling of these fears result in the stigma and discrimination of infected patients. Globally, measures taken so far by governments to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, although helpful, have created fears in people. Consequently, there are reported Ghanaian media cases of stigmatisation against persons who were infected and recovered from COVID-19. However, these reports remain unsubstantiated. This study, therefore, sought to examine stigma and discriminatory tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors among the adult population in Ghana. This was a population-based cross-sectional study among 3,259 adults. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics comprising frequency, percentage, chi-square, and multivariable logistic regression were employed in analysing the data. Knowledge on COVID-19 was poor among 33.6% of the participants. Forty-three per cent had a good attitude towards COVID-19. Nearly half (45.9%) exhibited stigma and discriminatory tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors. Participants who had poor COVID-19 related knowledge (aOR = 1.91, 95%CI = 1.59–2.29, p<0.001) and poor attitude towards COVID-19 (aOR = 5.83, 95% CI = 4.85–6.98, p<0.001) were more likely to exhibit stigma and discriminatory tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors. Our study found relatively high proportions of poor knowledge and negative attitudes towards COVID-19. Stigma and discriminatory tendencies were consequently high. Our findings call for increased public education on COVID-19 by the Ghana Health Service and the Information Services Department, to increase the level of knowledge on the pandemic while reducing stigma and discrimination associated with it. Public Library of Science 2022-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10021222/ /pubmed/36962445 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000307 Text en © 2022 Osei et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Osei, Eric
Amu, Hubert
Appiah, Prince Kubi
Amponsah, Solomon Boamah
Danso, Evans
Oppong, Samuel
Lotse, Comfort Worna
Owusu, Bright Emmanuel
Agongo, Simon Azure
Yakubu, Eliasu
Kye-Duodu, Gideon
Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana
title Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana
title_full Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana
title_fullStr Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana
title_short Stigma and discrimination tendencies towards COVID-19 survivors: Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Ghana
title_sort stigma and discrimination tendencies towards covid-19 survivors: evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in ghana
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021222/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962445
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000307
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