By Mohmad Maqbool Waggy
The COVID-19 pandemic is now a major global health threat. As of 22nd March 2020, there have been 2,92,142 cases and 12,784 deaths confirmed worldwide. Global spread has been rapid, with 170 countries now having reported at least one case. The last time the world responded to a global emerging disease epidemic of the scale of the current COVID-19 panemic with no access to vaccines was the 1918-19 H1N1 influenza pandemic.
There have been reported cases in India that suspected cases of Covid-19 ran away from quarantine at hospitals. This has been reported from many of the states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Union Territory of Jammu &Kashmir etc. This poses a major threat and it is the call of the hour to tackle this issue. One of the major causes of this skipping the quarantine and hiding travel histories is fear of social stigma which is always detrimental and it needs to be embarked upon.
“Stigma” was in the past a conventional Greek term for a permanent mark that identified a person as a scandalous, collaborator, or slave. In modern times, the word “stigma” has been used to portray the practice of negative prejudice aligned with people with certain physical, behavioral, or social attributes. Stigma is not new to public health, nor is it unique to COVID-19. History offers an unfortunate loads of instances of “prejudice, discounting, discrediting, and discrimination” aimed at people who are ill or perceived to be ill. For example leprosy was viewed as divine punishment for ethical transgression in centuries past, and persons infected with Mycobacterium leprae were under duress expelled from both civil and religious society. Folks who became ill with cholera in the early years in American republic were publicly disparaged as unbalanced, sluggish, and vice ridden.
Fear and stigma have been strong impediments in the management of pandemic emergencies. The social cost of stigma can result in adverse health effects in general, as well as in intensification of the effects of the epidemiology and pathology of certain diseases. It therefore can be argued that stigma is more than just a negative outcome of certain diseases; it is an illness in itself, comorbid with respect to its clear material conditions.
Stigma can be seen as a biosocial phenomenon with four essential elements. First, stigma can present major obstacle against health care seeking, thereby plummeting early detection and cure and promoting the spread of infection. Second, social marginalization time and again can lead to poverty and neglect, thereby increasing the propensity of populations to the ingress and amplification of contagious diseases. Third, potentially stigmatized populations may distrust health authorities and resist cooperation during a public health emergency. Finally, social stigma may alter public perceptions of risk, consequential in mass panic among citizens and the inconsistent allocation of health care resources by politicians and health professionals.
The same argument can be made for the social stigma of pandemic diseases like recently COVID-19 which has now emerged a major global health threat. In this backdrop it becomes imperative to adopt measures intended to trim down transmission. It is shared as well as individual responsibility on our part to apply every effort that will safeguard us from this virus. The stigma prompts widespread cover up, delaying early detection and treatment and furthering the spread of the infection.
Fear and anxiety can lead us to social stigma towards the people, places or things. An example of discrimination and stigma can occur when a person has been quarantined only for precautionary measure and even after his release from quarantine considering that individual as no risk for spreading the virus to others. Stigmatized individuals may be subjected to social evasion or rejection or physical violence. It affects the emotional and mental health of both stigmatized person as well as community they live in.
In order to wrestle the epidemics collectively it becomes our foremost duty that we should stop stigma to make ourselves resilient. To respond to stigmatization we can take following suggested actions:
*Stigma can be sharpened by inadequate knowledge about how the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is transmitted and treated, and how to prevent infection. In response, prioritize the collection, consolidation and dissemination of accurate country- and community-specific information about affected areas, individual and group vulnerability to COVID-19, treatment options and where to access health care and information.
*Engaging social influencers such as religious leaders on prompting reflection about people who are stigmatized and how to support them, or respected celebrities to amplify messages that reduce stigma. The information should be well targeted and the celebrities who are asked to communicate this information must be personally engaged, and geographically and culturally appropriate to the audiences they seek to influence.
*Amplify the voices, stories and images of local people who have experienced the new coronavirus (COVID-19) and have recovered or who have supported a loved one through recovery to emphasize that most people do recover from COVID-19.
*Make sure you portray different ethnic groups. All materials should show diverse communities being impacted and working together to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Ensure that typeface, symbols and formats are neutral and don’t suggest any particular group.
*There are a number of initiatives to address stigma and stereotyping. It is key to link up to these activities to create a movement and a positive environment that shows care and empathy for all.
*Maintain privacy and confidentiality of those seeking healthcare or being quarantined.
*Social media has not only propagated doubtful rumors on the emergence of virus but also brought forth absurd measures of prevention. Media can play an important role in ameliorating the severity of unwanted social discrimination.
Certainly, stigma is not the only obstruction we face in our attempts to create effective COVID19 prevention and care programs. Fissures in the scientific knowledge base, lack of prevention technologies, and resource constraints are among the many factors influencing the success or failure of our efforts. But undoubtedly, stigma needs to be recognized as a continuing impediment to COVID19 prevention and care programs. As civilized citizens, it is our responsibility to work toward minimizing the negative health consequences of COVID19 stigma.
Mohammad Maqbool Waggy is a Research Scholar at Central University of Kashmir
