Chiefs, traditional leaders, herbalists, and Muslim clerics have all contributed to the fight against COVID-19, according to Dr. James Duah, the Deputy Executive Director of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG).
Because they are well-known and respected, their statements to mosques, churches, and conventional treatment facilities were taken seriously. This is why we utilized these prominent individuals.
Dr. Duah said, "To start with, these authorities demonstrated this to their communities by first taking the COVID-19 vaccines themselves," in reference to research commissioned on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the nation.
A survey was done to better understand the condition of vaccination hesitancy in 39 districts as part of the operations under CHAG's COVID-19 and Institutional Capacity Building (CRIB) project, financed by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO).
By bolstering Ghana's health systems and ensuring the continued provision of vital healthcare services, the FCDO aimed to assist the government in responding to COVID-19.
The COVID-19 immunization and promotion programs were vigorously launched by the project.
Campaign: "We conducted a house-to-house campaign, investigating the causes of non-vaccination and providing them with the chance to vaccinate.
"This method made sure that a lot of people received clarification on whatever doubts they had that prevented them from receiving the vaccination."
"Our staff was also very aggressive in moving from community to community, including construction sites, schools, churches, etc., and were able to reach out to many people and get them vaccinated," Dr. Duah said.
Hesitancy
He spoke of convincing arguments that could have led individuals to voluntarily receive the vaccination.
They said that the healthcare system did not provide adequate information regarding the vaccination and the reasons why individuals should feel secure.
What worsened the situation, according to Dr. Duah, was when the manufacturers issued indemnities saying that they should not be held responsible for any accidents.
Those factors, he claimed, "further reinforced the social media view that vaccine development takes a long time, but in the case of COVID-19, it took less than one year to do so, thereby fueling suspicion, mistrust, and hesitancy," which added to the widespread mistrust for vaccinations.
He claimed that several people were concerned about their fertility and thought the vaccine would affect it negatively.
Some men believed it would render them ineffective.
When asked what CHAG did to influence people's opinions, Dr. Duah replied, "We adopted several strategies."
He said that using respected members of society, like religious leaders, was one of the tactics.
"As these men received the vaccinations, their supporters thought it was okay."
Again, our personnel received the shots in front of the populace, which inspired them to immunize themselves, he added, adding that house-to-house outreach was also beneficial.
He said that the CRIB project's lessons learned made it abundantly evident that the government could not respond to pandemics on its own; partnerships and numerous cooperative efforts were required.
Dr. Duah said that it was helpful to use religious and traditional authorities to overcome hesitation.
The poll also revealed that most people preferred TV as a way of informing themselves on crucial health issues, like COVID-19, as the Deputy Executive Director stated.
Regarding the findings of the report on the survey, Dr. Duah said that it had been successful in producing data that was recorded in the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management System (SORMAS) and the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS 2).
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