For starters, COVID-19 is here to stay and most likely at one point, all the people will get infected with the novel coronavirus unless a vaccine or a medicine that can cure the illness is developed. This means that sooner or later most of us will be individually affected by having our loved ones who have suffered the disease and recovered. Therefore, it’s important to keep in mind that history will
judge us.
In public health terms, social stigma is defined as the negative association between a person or group of people who share certain characteristics and a specific disease. In pandemic contexts or outbreaks like the COVID-19 times we are living in, social stigma may take different forms including stereotypes, labeling, discrimination, differential treatment, gossip, physical violence, denial of services, and /or loss of status as a result of a perceived link to COVID-19.
For instance, stigma occurs when individuals associate COVID-19 with race or nationality, even though not everyone in that race or from that country is specifically at risk for the disease. Similarly, stigma can occur after a person has been released from COVID-19 quarantine even though they are not
considered a risk for spreading the virus to others.
Many people around the world and in Rwanda have been stigmatized as a result of COVID-19. In Rwanda, instances of stigma have been reported especially among people who have been quarantined. In one instance, a formally quarantined person upon his return to the community, his neighbors operating retail stores were visually scared to sell him household commodities. Additionally, the whole family was a subject of gossip across the neighborhood.
Yet throughout history, research indicates numerous negative impacts emanating from stigma. According to the World Health Organization, stigmatization can lead to devastating and far-reaching impacts. Firstly, research notes that stigma can lead to people hiding their illness so that they can avoid discrimination. Secondly, stigma leads to negative health-seeking behavior where people
are most likely to seek healthcare late. Lastly, stigma can lead to a feeling of shame, hopelessness, and isolation.
Given the abhorrent nature of stigma and its devastating impact on the health system and people, it’s imperative to deconstruct stigma. Experience and history teach us that the best way to do this is by educating the public on COVID-19 to dispel damaging stereotypes such as the stereotype that people cannot completely be healed from the disease since it has no cure and the belief that it might reappear at any time. Public sensitization about COVID-19 should aim to build people’s trust in healthcare advice, encourage people to exhibit empathy towards those affected, enhance the
understanding of COVID-19, and continue implementing ongoing mitigation measures that have so far proved effective.
Another important parameter is openness and transparency whereby our leaders should be open about their diagnosis of the disease to aid the normalization of COVID-19. When Phil Bongoley Lutaaya a prominent musician at the time in Uganda and Magic Johnson a basketball star in the United States of America came out and revealed his HIV positive status, it helped reduced stigma and the number of people seeking medical care for HIV/AIDS greatly increased.
Lastly, COVID-19 poses a serious health threat to the world at large and at such a time, the human family ought to come together and show empathy towards those affected while keeping in mind that anyone of us can fall victim to COVID-19. As the bible says in Mathew 7:12: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
By David Kagoro Baguma
Public health expert and senior researcher