By Yunus S Saliu
The Gambia current Covid-19 registered cases as at 31st October, 2021 stands at 9,965 while Covid-19-related deaths is 340 and the recovered number so far is 9,611 while the active cases is 14 with 3 critical cases.
Despite the issued situational reports showing declines in registered cases for the month of October, it is still believe that spread of the Coronavirus in The Gambia was due to unheeded of Covid-19 guidelines as issued by the Ministry of Health and WHO.
On a thorough discourse, particularly, in communities of Darsalam, Kerewan and Mbatang Killin in North Bank Region revealed how the pandemic has impacted them in all ways. People of these communities are convinced that numbers of infected people in the rural areas are lesser than those in the cities. Few claimed that in rural area the uneducated ones are less worried of the virus while the educated among are more concerned.
Comments
Awa Sonko, in her 40s, is a housewife and member of Solicita Cooperation – a group of women horticultural farmers based in North Bank Region. She is from Darsalam community of the region which is about 112 kilometres east of Banjul.
Awa lives with her children and husband in their family compound in Darsalam, in her understanding of Covid-19 she said “Covid-19 is a disease which has no cure and the rate it started (in 2020) to spread startled us because the daily news update from around the world reaching us in the community can even kill someone before contacting the virus itself.”
Awa Sonko recounted the negative impact of Covid-19 on her family saying “it has broken (affected) my children schooling, they didn’t go to school for about seven months.”
She works at the garden with other women of the cooperative noting that they have a wastage period because “we work in the gardens daily, we harvested our produce but there was no place to sell them. This was due to the total closure of village’s lumo (weekly village market) and surrounding community lumos too were shot down.”
According to her, feeding becomes very difficult for everyone in the community at the apex of the pandemic in 2020 especially on her. “My husband is among the frontline workers, he works at the health center sometimes he will be at work for some days without coming home because of the Covid-19,” she explained.
‘But now, she said “’Alihamdulillah,’ (praise be to God) we are living better than when the Coronavirus just started, our children like others in the community are now back to school without any hindrance.”
However, she explained that many people not only from Darsalam still not believe in the existence of Coronavirus in The Gambia, though there are others that get freak when they hear about new cases or new Covid-19-related death.
Spreading and Denial of its existence
Busura Jagne believes that Covid-19 is a sickness for the city people (people residing in cities) and it is from the city that it spreads to the rural areas.
Talking about the spread of this virus in the country she argued that “non-adhering to the preventive measures as ordered by Health Ministry and government is a contributing factor to the spread. Government declared State of Public Health Emergency across the country, in the rural areas all lumos were shot down but in the cities, markets open every day.”
More to that, she continued, politicians organize rally every day “without adhering to Covid-19 rules, so if the virus is here do you think they will do that?”
“I have not sit within the four corner of the classroom for once but I can still reasoning within my senses,” Busura claimed to dispute the existence of Covid-19.
Fatou Sabally (not her real name), 33, semi-educated woman from Mbatang Killin on her own believes, not abiding with the preventive measures and poverty contributed to spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in The Gambia.
In her argument, the spread of Coronavirus in the country cannot be separated from the political situation as far as the nation is in the election year. “Political situation has hindered people from observing some of the preventive measures either here in the rural areas or at the cities.”
This situation, she said, brings about barrier for government that they cannot enforce the declared State of Public Health Emergency rules with effective restrictions at the peak of the coronavirus during the first and second waves.
However, the issue of denial still remains with some negative information on social media which is really frustrating the government fights against the pandemic. But there is little improvement in the taking of the Covid-19 jab compared to the past
Though Coronavirus is still taking toll in other areas but for now in “Darsalam, Mbatang Killin and some other parts of North Bank Area, it is safer for us,” Aramata Danso from Kerewan claimed with confidence.
Aramata emphasized that they are of relieve from the pandemic stress as the country is recording low infection according to the news “this time is different from before where you can hear about 40, 70 or more new infections or cases, the pandemic is going down now.”
Grappling with situation
The regular situational reports issued by the Ministry of Health to updates the populace about the pandemic has recommended that “CBS activities need to be synchronized with MRC’s ILI surveillance to spur up testing rates in the hinterland. Also to intensify risk communication and community engagement activities, on Covid-19 at community level, including lumos, in a bid to curtail community transmission and dispel misinformation and denial and vaccine hesitancy.”
More so, “to strengthen community-based surveillance to increase awareness and testing rates thorough enforcement of the mandatory mask-wearing regulation, IPC measures should be strictly adhered to in all public and private healthcare facilities, Intensify activities geared to increase COVID-19 vaccination coverage at all levels,”
This story was produced with support from Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), through its Mobilizing Media in the Fight Against Covid-19 in partnership with Mai-Media and The Voice newspaper.