TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19, Chronic Conditions and Structural Poverty
T2 - A Social Psychological Assessment of the Needs of a Marginalized Community in Accra, Ghana
AU - Aikins, Ama De Graft
AU - Sanuade, Olutobi
AU - Baatiema, Leonard
AU - Asante, Paapa Yaw
AU - Agyei, Francis
AU - Asah-Ayeh, Vida
AU - Okai, Jemima A.O.
AU - Osei-Tutu, Annabella
AU - Koram, Kwadwo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, PsychOpen. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - In the African region COVID-19 infection and death rates are increasing (writing in May 2020), most deaths have occurred among individuals with chronic conditions, and poor communities face higher risks of infection and socio-economic insecurities. We assessed the psychosocial needs of a chronic illness support group in Accra, Ghana, within the context of their broader community. The community lives in structural poverty and has a complex burden of infectious and chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Between March and May 2020, we conducted interviews, group discussions, and surveys, with members of the support group and their caregivers, frontline healthcare workers, and religious and community leaders. Data was analysed through the social psychology of participation framework. Community members understood COVID-19 as a new public health threat and drew on eclectic sources of information to make sense of this. Members of the support group had psychosocial and material needs: they were anxious about infection risk as well as money, food and access to NCD treatment. Some community members received government food packages during the lockdown period. This support ended after lockdown in April and while anti-poverty COVID policies have been unveiled they have yet to be implemented. We discuss the impact of these representational, relational and power dynamics on the community’s access to COVID-19 and NCD support. We argue that strategies to address immediate and post-COVID needs of vulnerable communities have to focus on the politics and practicalities of implementing existing rights-based policies that intersect health, poverty reduction and social protection.
AB - In the African region COVID-19 infection and death rates are increasing (writing in May 2020), most deaths have occurred among individuals with chronic conditions, and poor communities face higher risks of infection and socio-economic insecurities. We assessed the psychosocial needs of a chronic illness support group in Accra, Ghana, within the context of their broader community. The community lives in structural poverty and has a complex burden of infectious and chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Between March and May 2020, we conducted interviews, group discussions, and surveys, with members of the support group and their caregivers, frontline healthcare workers, and religious and community leaders. Data was analysed through the social psychology of participation framework. Community members understood COVID-19 as a new public health threat and drew on eclectic sources of information to make sense of this. Members of the support group had psychosocial and material needs: they were anxious about infection risk as well as money, food and access to NCD treatment. Some community members received government food packages during the lockdown period. This support ended after lockdown in April and while anti-poverty COVID policies have been unveiled they have yet to be implemented. We discuss the impact of these representational, relational and power dynamics on the community’s access to COVID-19 and NCD support. We argue that strategies to address immediate and post-COVID needs of vulnerable communities have to focus on the politics and practicalities of implementing existing rights-based policies that intersect health, poverty reduction and social protection.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Ghana
KW - chronic conditions
KW - community participation
KW - health systems
KW - power
KW - social capital
KW - social representations
KW - structural poverty
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138962003&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5964/jspp.7543
DO - 10.5964/jspp.7543
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85138962003
SN - 2195-3325
VL - 9
SP - 577
EP - 591
JO - Journal of Social and Political Psychology
JF - Journal of Social and Political Psychology
IS - 2
ER -