One novel virus, different beliefs as playmakers towards disease spread in Africa: looking at COVID-19 from a religious lens

Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena, Hagan, John Elvis, Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku, Seidu, Abdul Aziz, and Schack, Thomas (2020) One novel virus, different beliefs as playmakers towards disease spread in Africa: looking at COVID-19 from a religious lens. The Pan African medical journal, 36. 365.

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Abstract

Religious and spiritual observances that draw large people together are pervasive in many parts of the world, including Africa. With the recent emergence of COVID-19, these mass religious gatherings may pose significant threats to human health. Given the compromised healthcare systems in many parts of Africa, faith-based institutions have a huge responsibility towards the management of the potential spread of the virus through effective organizational strategies or interventions. This essay sheds light on what the novel virus has to do with religion, the role of religious practices in inhibiting or spreading COVID-19, and what appropriate evidence-based interventions religious or faith-based organizations could adopt to help prevent the spread of the disease in Africa through a unity of thoughts for religious action.

Item ID: 67361
Item Type: Article (Commentary)
ISSN: 1937-8688
Keywords: Africa, Allah, Christianity, COVID-19, God, Islam, religion, religious rituals, spirituality
Copyright Information: Edward Kwabena Ameyaw et al. Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date Deposited: 25 May 2022 23:38
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