The Ghana Psychological Association, as part of the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund's efforts to reduce the incidents of stigmatization against COVID-19 recovered persons, frontline workers and their family members, has trained about three hundred and fourteen (314) NCCE staff to educate Ghanaians on stigmatization and provide support for COVID-19 stigmatization victims.

This initiative, as part of the awareness campaign dubbed ‘Let Love Lead. End The Stigma’ seeks to change people’s mindset about COVID-19 and debunk myths and misconceptions about recovered persons and their families. It also aims to reduce fear, communicate support for frontline workers and encourage everyone to play their role in the fight against stigmatization.

The three-day virtual training focused on the general knowledge on COVID-19 related psycho-social challenges and the most appropriate way of educating Ghanaians across the country, the psychological impact on persons who are stigmatized after recovery and the myths around COVID-19 recoveries. The 314 persons who were part of this training have been equipped with the requisite knowledge to educate Ghanaians across the country.
Coordinator of the Anti-Stigma Campaign at the Ghana Psychological Association, Dr. Wiafe-Akenten, noted that the association had observed the stigmatization against recovered persons and their families and believe that this phenomenon will undermine the efforts in fighting the virus. Hence, the need to train people who will sensitize the communities on the adverse effects of stigmatization on recovered persons and their families.

“We believe that partnering with the COVID-19 private sector fund to campaign against the stigmatization of recovered persons is a great way to support stigmatized persons and their families. We wish to intensify the education against stigmatization. This is why we have trained staff of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to preach the love message. This is important if we want to win in the fight against COVID-19. We also entreat all to support the ‘Let Love Lead. End The Stigma’ campaign”, he said.

According to some of the NCCE trainees, “It was really an insightful, impactful and useful training programme. Our knowledge on COVID-19 and stigmatization have been sharpened to help us educate people. We have already started the education and we hope to see progress after the campaign.”
The ‘Let Love Lead. End The Stigma’ anti-stigmatization campaign is an initiative of the COVID -19 Private Sector Fund, sponsored by the Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC), with support from the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and Global Media Alliance.