People & Lifestyle
WATCH: Citi FM’s Umaru Sanda suffers stigmatisation following his story on COVID-19
Umaru Sanda Amadu is the latest journalist to have faced stigmatization after doing stories from one of Ghana’s Covid-19 isolation centre.
Speaking in an interview on UK based abenakwabenatv, the host of Citi FM’s “Eye Witness News” shared an unnerving experience of stigmatization after visiting Ghana’s national Covid-19 treatment centre at the Ga East municipal hospital in the greater accra region of Ghana.
Narrating what he described as scary, sanda said ” people were afraid of me simply because I have gone to interview a Covid-19 patient. I recall some colleagues whether jovially or seriously saying in the office sanda don’t come close to me, you “nu”, you have this thing already, you know, I was scared “.
“People who watched me on tv called me and said charley I hope you have bathed in acid and bathed in sanitizer before going home” he continued.
According to the 2014 WASH media awards winner, the stigma came from all angles including people from his vilage, “I remember a few calls from the village people who said they are going to mount a barrier at the village and that I am the one they should be afraid of not anybody else”.
Umaru sanda was worried stigmatization if not checked will be an inhibition to the fight against Covid-19, adding it is reason enough for people to not want to be tested or recieve treatment for the disease.
It will be recalled that multimedia journalist Latif Idrisu also shared a similar experience of how colleagues and friends stigmatised after interview a person suspected to have Covid-19.