Don’t stigmatise against Covid-19 survivors
Dear Editor,
THE Covid-19 pandemic has taken the world and Zambia in particular by storm going by the high number of people getting infected. Zambia has recorded a number of deaths to the coronavirus pandemic.
What is certain is that every person is a potential Covid-19 patient. This implies that anyone can get infected in an event that people overlook the Covid-19 prevention health guidelines.
The preventive health guidelines are masking up, washing hands with soap, sanitising, observing of social distance, avoiding overcrowded places and above all, getting vaccinated against the coronavirus pandemic.
Some people have died of the Covid-19 and others survived. The unfortunate part is that some people stigmatise against the survivors of the pandemic.
The people who stigmatise against the survivors of Covid-19 consider the latter as outcasts. As though this is not ad enough, some people wrongly believe that the survivors of Covid-19 can still infect others. This is not true.
Some people stigmatise against their relatives who recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. “Why should people stigmatise against the survivors of Covid-19?”
The truth is that the survivors of Covid-19 are people like any other who should be accorded the dignity they deserve. Some survivors of Covid-19 when stigmatised against will be psychologically affected and can resort to committing suicide in the worst scenario.
It is important therefore to sensitise people on the repercussions of stigmatising against the survivors of Covid-19. Let us embrace our brothers and sisters who survived the Covid-19.
The battle against the coronavirus is for everyone. Together we can fight the pandemic which has ravaged the entire world.
ELEMIYA PHIRI,
Lusaka.
