Disregard to Covid-19 Prevention Protocols Is A Public Health Threat, Please Stop!

Disregard to Covid-19 Prevention Protocols Is A Public Health Threat, Please Stop!: Introduction: As we tolerate people that we cannot live without in our lives, we must also learn how to live with COVID-19 until a cure is found. We can do

Disregard to Covid-19 Prevention Protocols Is A Public Health Threat, Please Stop!

Disregard to COVID-19 Prevention's Protocols Is A Public Health Threat, Please Stop!

Author: Benjamin Pulle Niriwa, 23.08.2020.

Introduction: As we tolerate (Verkuyten, 2020) people that we cannot live without in our lives, we must also learn how to live with COVID-19 until a cure is found. We can do this by observing all the Prevention’s Protocols suggested by experts from WHO., (2020). COVID-19 prevention protocols are set of guidelines designed and published to help us in preventing “diseases” like COVID-19, “injuries” and “disabilities” (CDC a, 2018).

Using the Perfect Me Mentality Principle: Life is a journey (Madry, 2019) full of curves, disappointments, and uncertainties! Sometimes, as you travel; you never know what is ahead of you, but you don’t stop; you keep on moving. The same applies to Life: at most times we don’t know what the future holds for us, but we keep on moving and trusting in God. A very good example of the uncertainties of life is the COVID-19 Pandemic (Cruz et al., 2020) that has thrown us into a serious global crisis (Ayittey et al., 2020). No one knows it was coming to mingle with us uninvited, especially, for such a long time. SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, for the past months was a stranger! It is now a family member, co-tenant, co-worker, and a close friend in our daily lives; though some still do not believe that it exists (Tinkorang, 2020).

A workshop: “Infection Prevention and Control” (IPC) on 30^th July 2020 revealed that: “It is not clean until you clean it yourself”. With this experience, practicing the COVID-19 Prevention Protocol, to me is like a driver driving on the road/street. A good driver sees himself/herself as the best driver (Roy & Liersch, 2014). Perceive other drivers as careless, though in reality they are not, you will be able to reduce road accident(s). You cannot refuse to look into your driving mirror or give a signal, especially when you are crossing or overtaking (Nijboer et al., 2016), just because you are in hurry! We should use the same mentality to help us willingly practice the COVID-19 Prevention Protocols (Fig. 1A). Once you believe that everyone can be careless, you will also be careful with how you interact with people by wearing face mask, by sanitizing your hands when you touch any object, or you will always maintain a distance at crowded places as advised by experts (WHO., 2020).

Statistics show that the masculinity of men make most refuse to practice healthy health behaviors (Courtenay, 2000), so do statistics indicate that young men, in particular, are the ones who drive dangerously (Groeger & Brown, 1989). In this Pandemic, I have realized that almost all sexes are violating the prevention’s protocols. Multiple tasks are used in driving (Nijboer et al., 2016) to avoid accident. Likewise, there are multiple behavioral changes in COVID-19 Prevention like staying at home, washing and sanitizing your hands, wearing of face masks, avoiding too much touches, stopping smoking and alcoholism, maintaining physical distance and so on.

If you make a mistake or miss any of the tasks in driving like looking, you are at a higher risk of having accident (Nijboer et al., 2016): the same applies to the practice of COVID-19 Prevention Protocols. Once you are the type who miss these protocols, you are not only putting yourself at risk: you are putting others, especially the high-risk group like the elderly (Liu et al., 2020), people with underlined health conditions (Chow et al., 2020) or pregnant women (Mei et al., 2020), and their unborn babies (Mei et al., 2020) at risk. But, do people really know why they have to observe these COVID-19 Prevention’s Protocols?

Explanation of Why We Observe Prevention’s Protocols Using Face Mask As Example: We wear face mask; because our mouths are the main exit and entry points for most infectious agents, like SARS-CoV-2 (Tong, 2005). These pathogens can spread through infected air, aerosols/droplets (Morgenstern, 2020; Anderson, 2019; Leung et al., 2020). Our two main Holy Books – The Bible and Quran warn us on how to use our tongues/mouths (Adams, 1996; Smith, 2020; Islam, 2017; Mashkat al-Anwar, 1995). COVID-19 pandemic is reminding us of most of them!

The Holy Bible warns us on how to use our tongue/mouth, saying: “He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction” (Proverbs., 13.3, KJV). Ephesians, (4:29, KJV) also warns us against unnecesary use of our mouth instead of using it to speak against the ills or praise the good of our societies to promote peace. In the same way the Holy Quran also warns against the same use of our tongue or mouth! In, Quran 5:101 we are told to stop asking questions that are not necessary: “Do not ask about things, which, if they are disclosed to you, will upset you”; we are also adviced not to argue with “ignorant people” in Quran 25:63: “The servants of the All-beneficient are those walk humbly on the earth, and when the ignorant address them, say, ‘Peace’” (Islam, 2017).

Figure 1. Stop COVID-19 Pandemic Transmission with Perfect Me Mentality, Practice All Prevention Protocols

 

In a YouTube video, a woman is seen licked a Blue Bell Ice Cream and put the remainder back into a public fridge (YouTube, 2019). A baby is also seen licking ice cream with his foots and people were happy with that (Hoffman, 2019). These practices are not healthful, especially during these periods of increased infectious diseases like COVID-19, influenza and Ebola. The more we use our mouths; the more our risk of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2. So, only talk when it is necessary. Both of these Holy Books warned us against backbiting, mocking others, unnecessary questionings, avoid arguing unnecessary. The more you do any of these, the more you put yourself and others at risk. Mask up your life; talk less, especially at crowded places. It is obvious that science has remarkably achieve a lot in fighting against infectious diseases worldwide (Echaubard et al., 2018), including this current one. These achievements are nothing if we are not complying with experts advise on how to prevent ourselves and others from being infected.

Evidence of People Violating COVID-19 Prevention’s Protocols: Many people were violating even lockdown/curfew’s orders (Dapaah a, 2020; Dapaah b, 2020; Agyapa, 2020), which has resulted in terms like: “Lockdown escapees” (Anokye, 2020). During this same period, some residents of Ghana were seen happily having funs at a beach party (Hartmann, 2020; Crabbe, 2020) and a pool party (Anaba, 2020) without face masks or maintaining social distance (Qian & Jiang, 2020). This behavior is worst after the lockdown is lifted! Tinkorang, (2020) revealed that it is because some people are still refusing to accept the reality that COVID-19 exist.

From observation, almost every day, people are seen violating the COVID-19 Prevention’s Protocols! People are refusing to maintain physical distance and are rushing to wash their hands less than the recommended time of, at least, twenty (20) seconds (Toney-Butler et al., 2020; CDC., 2020). In China, Hong Kong, during an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), 2003 before this one, it is realized that even after 15years “Hand-Hygiene Education” (Wong & Lee, 2019) in a project done in 2018, people could still not wash their hands properly. Traveling from Techiman to Kumasi on 26^th August 2020, a driver refused to wear a face mask but always puts it on anytime he gets to a Police Barrier. The next day, a health worker was seen at Kintampo, with his face mask hanging from his right ear whilst he was walking and chatting with colleagues who also used theirs at the chin. Interestingly, they wore them well when they got to the entrance of their institution: this means that some people even know the right thing to do, but are not practicing them.

The question then is, though they know how to practice these protocols, do most of them know why they should practice them? People are seen refusing to maintain physical distance at public places, whilst talking plenty or eating anyhow. Evidence of this can be observed from the Ghana’s voter registration exercise, where some citizens who were behaving as if there is no COVID-19, were talking too match; as observed by a global health expert who was Zoomed and interviewed live on TV (Amuasi, 2020). People are seen eating and drinking without observing the protocols at chop bars; you can easily confirm this by visiting there to see for yourself, what is going on.

The straw that breaks the Carmel’s back is that, many food sellers are also seen without face masks selling food to customers who wear no face masks too, whilst talking to each other less than the recommended distance. Meanwhile, it was reported that some food sellers and taxi drivers tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (Effah, 2020). Taxi drivers who, though were accusing some passengers for not observing COVID-19 prevention’s protocols, were doing the same thing. This is why lockdown/curfew is able to reduce spread of infection by “75%” (Owusu, 2020) because of the automatic social distancing (Qian & Jiang, 2020) that it creates.  

Why We Should Be Worried: People who know how SARS-CoV-2 behaves, have already warned us that COVID-19 has come to stay with us (Biswas et al., 2020); because most people are still finding it difficult to change and practice the preventive measures. Really, “Behavior matters” (Fisher et al., 2011) in every aspects of our lives including disease prevention, like the COVID-19. The continued violation of COVID-19 prevention’s protocols must be a concern to everyone, because there are scientific findings that prove that asymptomatic persons can spread SARS-CoV-2 to susceptible hosts (Kenji et al., 2020; Ye et al., 2020; Rothe et al., 2020; Brownson, 2020). These findings are still not ruled out and there are evidences of “Presymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2” in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) of the (CDC b., 2020; Wei et al., 2020) and from other research findings (Savvides & Siegel, 2020).

People behave like COVID-19 is gone, but the reality is that it is still with us. In fact, COVID-19 is a promiscuous disease, which though was reduced to only 2 cases on 19^th January, 2020 (Chen & Yu, 2020) has become a pandemic. This is why we must all be careful and do not be reluctant to observe all the prevention’s protocols. If people are ignoring the prevention’s protocols, the high-risk group like: the elderly (Liu et al., 2020) or those having underlined health problems (Chow et al., 2020) can lose their lives. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, especially goal 3 and 16 (UN., 2020; Skevington & Epton, 2018), cannot be achieved in an environment of increasing infectious diseases. This is because when people are sick, they cannot work and this will lead to global economic crisis that will not allow people to have peaceful minds.

 

Recommendations

Ø  Violating the COVID-19 Prevention’s Protocols is not a sign of bravery or a show of masculinity: it shows that you are ignorant or suicidal,

Ø  We should avoid using discouraging words like: “Don’t you know me?”, because the person maintains a distance, sanitizes his/her hands, or wears a face mask,

Ø  Let us apply the Perfect Me Mentality Principle of driving in the prevention of COVID-19. Just as the driver cannot lose focus; we need to constantly remind ourselves and practice preventive health behaviors daily,

Ø  We should still continue to open doors at public places for customers to reduce probable spread of SARS-CoV-2 from potentially infected door handles,

Ø  Poorly washed hands are as infectious as unwashed ones. If you cannot have time to wash them well, sanitize them with 70% alcohol-based hand sanitizer; wash them well later,

Ø  Hand washing or wearing of face mask is not a substitute for Social Distancing, all other COVID-19 Prevention Protocols must still be observed in addition,

Ø  A poorly worn face mask can be as dangerous as not wearing one at all. If it must be worn, then, it must be worn properly,

Ø  The Holy Books have warned us on how to use our mouths, people should be careful about how they eat, where they eat, and who they eat from.

Ø  Those who pulled down their masks because they want to talk to others, should stop and rather increase the volumes of their voices or speak louder.

Thank You for Reading!

Some of the References

Adams, E. (1996). The Mouth. . Evangelical Dictionary of Theology., Retrieved from https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/mouth/ on 06.06.2020 at 1:51AM. .

Agyapa, M., A. (2020). Video: Man beaten by soldiers for going out to buy items for stew during lockdown. Trustworthy News. Retrieved from https://www.mynewsgh.com/video-man-beaten-by-soldiers-for-going-out-to-buy-items-for-stew-during-lockdown/ on 04.04.2020 at 2:55PM.

Amuasi, J. (2020, June 30). Health: There is a high level of verbal interaction at the Voter Registration Centers, and this is a problem that will increase the risk of transmission. (Evans Mensah/Joy News, Interviewer)

Anaba, D. (2020). COVID-19: Police disrupt pool party at West Legon, arrest two revellers. General, Top Stories. Retrieved from https://citinewsroom.com/2020/04/covid-19-police-disrupt-pool-party-at-west-legon-arrest-two-revellers/amp/ on 13.04.2020 at 4:50PM.

Anderson, B. M. (2019). Protection of Upper Respiratory Tract, Mouth and Eyes. Prev Contrl Infect Hosp, 129-146. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-99921-0_13.

Anokye, E. (2020). Angry Residents Chase Out Lockdown Escapees. General News. Retrieved from https://ghanaweb.mobi/general-news/angry-residents-chase-out-lockdown-escapees/ on 02.04.2020 at 10:16AM and visited for updates on 29.08.2020 at 2:54PM.

Ayittey, F., K., Ayittey, M., K., Chiwero, N., B., Kamasah, J., S., & Dzuvor, C. (2020). Economic impacts of Wuhan 2019-nCoV on China and the world. J Med Virol, 92(5): 473-475. Doi: 10.1002/jmv.25706.

Biswas, A., Bhattarcharjee, U., Chakrabarti, A., K., Tewari, D., N., Banu, H., & Dutta, S. (2020). Emergence of Novel Coronavirus and COVID-19: whether to stay or die out? Crit Rev Microbiol, 1-123. Doi: 10.1080/1040841X.2020.1739001.

Brownson, F. (2020). At Long Last, 7th Coronavirus Patient In Ghana Finally Speaks And It’s A Sad One. . Latest., Retrieved from https://pinaxonline.com/at-long-last-7th-coronavirus-patient-in-ghana-finally-speaks-and-its-a-sad-one/amp/ on 20.03.2020 at 12:13AM.

CDC. (2020). When & How to Wash Your Hands. Hand Washing, Retrieved on 19.07.2020 at 10:38AM from https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html.

CDC a, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). The CDC Prevention Guidelines Database. Prevention Guidelines, Retrieved from https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/prevguid.html on 30.08.2020 at 7:35PM.

CDC b., Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). Presymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 - Singapore, January 23-March 16, 2020. MMWR, 69(14): 411-415. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6914e1.htm on 01.09.2020 at 5:03AM.

Chen, X., & Yu, B. (2020). First two months of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) epidemic in China: real-time surveillance and evaluation with a second derivative model. Global Health Research and Policy, 5:7. Doi: 10.1186/s41256-020-00137-4.

Chow, N., F., -D., Fleming-Dutra, K., Gierke, R., Hall, A., Hughes, M., Pilishvili, T., Ritchev, M., Roguski, K., Skoff, T., & Ussery, E. (2020). Preliminary Estimates of the Prevalence of Selected Underlying Health Conditions Among Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 - United States, February 12-March 28, 2020. . MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 69(13): 382-386. Doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6913e2.

Courtenay, W. H. (2000). Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men's well-being: a theory of gender and health. . Soc Sci Med, 50(10): 1385-1401. Doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(99)00390-1.

Crabbe, N. (2020). COVID-19: Soldiers storm Chorkor after residents flouted lockdown directive to party at beach (video). Latest News., Retrieved on 14.04.2020 at 2:05AM from https://yen.com.gh/153299-covid-19-soldiers-storm-chorkor-residents-flouted-lockdown-directive-party-beach-video.html

Cruz, M., P., Santos, E., Cervantes, M., A., V., & Juárez, M., L. (2020). COVID-19, a worldwide public health emergency. Rev Clin Esp, 1-8. Doi: 10.1016/j.rce.2020.03.001.

Dapaah a, E. (2020). Four persons nearly lynched after entering Eastern Region from Accra to escape lockdown. General. Retrieved on 04.04.2020 around 8:16PM from https://citinewsroom.com/2020/04/four-persons-nearly-lynched-after-entering-eastern-region-from-accra-to-escape-lockdown/amp/.

Dapaah b, E. N/R: COVID-19 patient who escaped still not found – Regional Minister. News. Retrieved from https://citinewsroom.com/2020/04/n-r-covid-19-patient-who-escaped-still-not-found-regional-minister/ on 02.04.2020 at 10:03AM, visited for updates 29.08.2020 at 3:17PM.

Echaubard, P., Rudge, J., W., & Lefevre, T. (2018). Evolutionary perspectives on human infectious diseases: Challenge, advances, and promises. Evol. Appl. 11(4): 383-393. Doi: 10.1111/eva.12586

Effah, K. (2020). COVID: Achimota Hospital records 13 cases involving 10 food vendors, 3 drivers. News. Retrieved from https://yen.com.gh/154985-covid-19-10-food-vendors-3-taxi-drivers-test-positive-achimota-hospital.html on 28.04.2020 at 6:20PM.

Ephesians. (4.29, KJV). The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians. The Holy Bible (p. 1089). London: Cambridge University Press.

Fisher, E., B., Fitzgibbon, M., L., Glasgow, R., E., Haire-Joshu, D., Hayman, L., L., Kaplan, R., M., Nanney, M., S., & Ockene, J., K. (2011). Behavior Matters. Am J Prev Med, 40(5): e15-e30. Doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2010.12.031.

 

PREPARATION IS PEACE: ROLE OF THE 21ST CENTURY FATHER IN PROMOTING GLOBAL PEACE AMIDST EMERGING/RE-EMERGING INFECTIONS LIKE COVID-19

PREPARATION IS PEACE

ROLE OF THE 21st CENTURY FATHER IN PROMOTING GLOBAL PEACE AMIDST EMERGING/RE-EMERGING INFECTIONS LIKE COVID-19; A REVIEW

Peace: “Means dignity, well-being for all, not just absence of war” (UN, 2014). Though nothing can work successfully without PEACE, the UN has warned that: “The world is entering a new period of global instability” where violence are likely to further increase (Muggah, 2016). The PEACE of our Modern Democratic World, through my research, is threatened by five multifaced or interconnected problems: Politic (Curtis et al., 2020), Religion (Oostindie, 2018), Racism/Tribalism (Browning et al., 2017), Health/Diseases (Blackwood & Guerrant, 1999), and Gender; with MONEY as the RULER. It is an open and an undebatable secrete that, in all these areas, one gender that always play a crucial role is the “Man” (McDonald et al., 2012). 

Fig. 1.: The Father is a Symbol of Responsibility and Peace.

Though masculinity has always been falsely perceived as the cause of most violence on earth as seen in current research findings by (Gamlin & Hawkes, 2017; Borras-Guevara et al., 2019), there can never be global peace without the man. To leave man out in the promotion of global peace is like a warrior going to fight without a weapon! Irrespective of the negative perceptions that dominates masculinity (Helman & Ratele, 2018), men are playing important roles, not only in our various homes; but in politics, religion, and scientific research. It is the duty of the father, as the family head (Genesis, 2:18, 21-22, KJV; Dhami & Sheikh, 2000), to ensure that, no matter the situation in life (like the COVID-19 Pandemic), his family remains Happy and Peaceful (Fig 1).

Money as the Ruler:  Comments like money breeds evil make it looks as if having money is bad, but money is good (Tripp, 2018). How we make or use money; think, behave or treat others or even God because of money is what makes it look as if: “… Money Is the Root of All Evil” (Anderson, 1996; Beus, 2015). Money itself is not our problem: the way we behave or treat others because of money is the problem! Money has divided the world into two with serious “discrimination” amongst people (Durante, 2017); like seen in the COVID-19 pandemic (Singh & Subedi 2020). Corruption is a global problem (Witvliet, 2019; García, 2019) because everyone wants to make money by all means – good or bad, in order to the avoid the discrimination mostly meted against the poor (Kwarteng, 2018).

This has resulted in most people selling their consciences to politicians during voting (Pradhanawati et al., 2018; Heath & Tillin, 2018). The most unfortunate thing is that, because of money, our places of worships that are supposed to be the homes for everyone are also gradually turning into grounds for discrimination (Hope et al., 2017). Organized crimes (Reynolds & McKee, 2010) like Armed robbery (Basu et al., 2008), hire-for-murder/ritual murder (Tarlow & Lowman, 2018; Loeber & Ahonen, 2013; Cameron, 2014), money laundering (Oguntunde et al., 2018; Deleanu, 2017), kidnapping (Oguntunde et al., 2018), and so on are mostly committed by men because of money.

God’s Created Man as Family Head: According to both Holy Books, God has divinely ordained man as the head of the family (Genesis, 2:18, 21-22, KJV; Dhami & Sheikh, 2000) and man’s responsibility started right from creation. Though feminist activists must acknowledge this fact and stop empowering women over men as seen in (Corry et al., 2002; Huntley et al., 2019; Gautam & Jeong, 2019), both genders need mutual respect and dignity. This divine ordination, does not means that women are “inferior” to men, as perceived by some people! The UN and feminist activists over emphasis on women empowerment (de Coning, 2018) at the expense of men is already giving us serious problems of increased domestic violence and breakups!

Dirty Politics Creates Negative Perceptions about Masculinity: Politics is identified as one of the reasons why there is an increasing “Global instability” (Muggah, 2016), as wars have “tripled since 2010” (de Coning, 2018). Most politicians always count on the masculinity of most men to do dirty politics and cause political violence (Bjarnegård et al., 2019; Sousa, 2013; Majumdar, 2020), this creates negative perceptions about masculinity; making it looks like men are inherently violent. Most men as peaceful as most women! Masculinity is found not only to be associated with political violence but religious violence as well (Banerjee, 1999). Majority of politicians are men, if politics is falsely painted as a “dirty game” (Degirmenci, 2016), we must be blamed as the political heads of our families. Political difference does not create enmity! Enmity is created by our dirty political mentalities of using character assassination (Jay, 2019; Goreis & Voracek, 2019), politics of insults (Asamoah et al., 2013) and lies (Celse & Chang, 2019) against our opponents.

Religious Tolerance and Violence: Most religions globally are headed by men, and men are the ones mostly involved in most religious violence caused by religious fundamentalist/extremist groups (Wibisono et al., 2019). Messages of peace from our Holy Books are mostly given by these religious leaders, who are mostly men. This is a positive side of masculinity that all men need to adopt to help promote global peace. We cannot be the same people preaching peace and causing violence! Just as every member of your family needs peace, and as the family head you ensure that there is peace, so does everyone need peace.

Religious tolerance must start from our various homes or families! But unfortunately, fathers are the ones mostly disowning their children because they have joined different religion (Ziafat, 2019). Even in the same religion, people are divided based on wealth, race/tribe, politics (Wibisono et al., 2019) and so on; which are against the teachings of the major Holy Books. As Christ is not divided (George, 2006) and is not borne for only Christians: so is Mohammed not divided nor is borne for only Muslims. We can be uniquely united with our differences in faiths; if we practice the greatest commandment, Love (Matthew, 22: 34-40, KJV).

Gandhi said on Religious Conversion: “All the great religions are fundamentally equal. We must have innate respect for other religions as we have for our own” (Singh & Singh, 2004). “A person wanting to convert should try to be a good follower of his own faith rather than seek goodness in change of faith” (Singh, 2004). Gandhi believes that: “All religions were more or less true, but had errors because they came to us through imperfect human instrumentality” (Singh, 2004). One religion must not be made to be seen as being superior to other religions (Singh, 2004). Religious intolerance has resulted in “Islamophobia” (Bedi, 2018; Poynting & Briskman, 2018) and other religious extremist groups such as Jihadists (Valentini et al., 2020; Bӧckler et al., 2018), Boko Haram (Amao, 2020; Basedau et al., 2014), ISIS (Chuang et al., 2019; Valentini et al., 2020), al-Qaeda (Chuang et al., 2019) and so on which are all increasing threats to world’s Peace.

Health or Diseases: Men have mostly been supporting women in the area of “Science, Medicine, and Global Health” (Ratele et al., 2019). Research findings have proven that these, especially science, are very important in promoting peace (Kelly, 2019; Shea, 2018). It is also revealed that the absence of the father, negatively affect the health of children (McLanahan et al., 2014) especially in the case of broken home (Mok et al., 2018; Amato et al., 2016). Unfortunately, most men do not pay attention to their own health, as they normally see violation of health behaviors as a prove of masculinity; unlike their female counterparts (Emslie & Hunt, 2008; Courtenay, 2000). This prove of masculinity could be seen from the way most men were seen without face masks at the NPP Primaries on 20^th June, 2020), violating social distancing at most polling stations.

This perceived masculinity of most men is reflected by the increased COVID-19 cases and deaths in males than in females in China and other parts of the world (Jin. et al., 2020; Wenham et al., 2020). Men are dying, 2.4 times the deaths of women, from COVID-19 (Jin. et al., 2020; Lancet, 2020) and masculinity of men is identified as a contributory factor. As men are mostly the financial providers or “Breadwinners” providing for the health needs of the families (Parker & Stepler, 2017; Jeon et al., 2019; Eagly & Wood, 2012), especially during this pandemic, failure to ignore some masculinity behaviors may be obstacle to the prevention measures against COVID-19.  

Gender Equality and Domestic Violence: Though men are mostly accused for inflicting violence on women (Dako-Gyeke et al., 2019), our 21^st century men are championing gender equality (Shannon et al., 2019; Gupta et al., 2019) to help promote global peace. Men are most likely to engage in behaviors or peaceful dialogue aimed at cementing “intragroup cooperation” (Benenson & Wrangham, 2016) after conflict than women. Though there is misconception of masculinity as mostly associated with aggression (Helman & Ratele, 2018), research findings revealed that in violence: “The likelihood for an experience of appetitive aggression increases, irrespective of one’s gender” (Meyer-Parlapanis et al., 2015).

Even when men are mostly not ready to report incidences of violence against them by women (Douglas & Hines, 2012), it is revealed that men and women inflict the same level of “physical and psychological aggression” (Swan et al., 2008). The same trend is seen in our elderly people in a project that uses 4179 men and 6005 women with respective abuses as 8.8% and 10.6% (Jeon, 2019). It is painfully exposed that for elderly men and women with the same level of education, the men suffer more abuse than the women (Jeon et al., 2019). Just as men are reluctant to report cases of violence against them, they rarely ask for help like women; yet the few who seeked help for violence against them by their partners were ignored (Cook, 2009; Hines et al., 2007; Douglas & Hines, 2012).

Interestingly, men who report cases of violence against them are ridiculed (Douglas & Hines, 2011; Dickerson-Amaya & Coston, 2019) or victimized (Douglas & Hines, 2011; Brooks et al., 2017). These discriminations confirmed by the way Fathers’ Day is unpopular, have resulted in most women becoming increasing violent (Malik & Nadda, 2019; Young, 2018) with more breakups (Perelli-Harris et al., 2017)! Broken home (Mok et al., 2018; Gravningen et al., 2017; Kansky & Allen, 2018; Leopold, 2018) has increased (Nawa, 2019) in our modern democracy than in the olden days; due to increasing domestic violence (Nawa, 2019).

The framing of intimate partner violence (IPV) as a problem of only females (Arndt, 1982; Walker & Browne, 1985) also exposes this cancer of gender discrimination. So, unlike in the olden days where women were generally submissive to any man who is not even their husband, nowadays some females even kill their husbands (Huecker & Smock, 2020). In western nations, “women are openly allowed to be aggressive towards men” (Hassan & Alshara, 2015), as they openly slap them, like seen in movies or televisions ‘TVs’ (Lindy, 2019; Meyers, 2012; Corry et al., 2002).

This encourages domestic violence but not women empowerment! Goal 16 of the United Nation Sustainable Development goals (UN SDGs) is aimed at “Promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies” (Muggah, 2016; de Coning, 2018). This is not possible if “Gender-based violence” is perceived as violence committed against women (True, 2010; Forbes-Mewett & McCulloch, 2016); that should be “Feminine-based or woman-based violence”! This is a serious pandemic, creating problems in marriages that lead to broken homes.

In conclusion, crying over the bad that has happened to you makes the bad badly. If you stop but think carefully you will realize that the bad is not always bad: there can be something GOOD hidden in the bad! There is no denying the fact that COVID-19 is bad, but it has revealed so many secretes and confirm certain open secretes about life that we always try to ignore. Gender-based violence or health behaviors is one of these.

Recommendations

1.      Man, as a family head is a symbol of Peace. To get your respect as a family head, you must first act in ways that naturally command that respect; by being responsible, promoting family peace, loving and respecting your partner, children or others as yourself.

2.      All believers must flee dirty politics because it is deadly! Any Christian or Muslim who is involved in dirty politics is committing a mortal sin, and must STOP.

3.      We must always put our nation first before any other interest, in any decision making.

4.      Men must avoid all forms of negative masculinities that fight against global peace and health.

5.      Money is good, but we must be careful of how we treat others because of it. Most of the problems in marriages is because most people marry money/wealth, not the human being.

6.      Let us avoid too much emphasis on money at the expense of good moral behaviors.  

7.      Gender equality must not be empowerment of one gender over the other!

8.      No gender should be made to look superior/inferior than the other. But as we promote gender equality, the ordination of man as the family head must always be respected.

9.      All genders must be treated with equal respect or dignity and with equal opportunities.

10.  There must be a balance of gender in dealing with issues of domestic or intimate partner violence without any discrimination as meted against men.

11.  Ignoring men on issues of domestic violence is tantamount to promoting it rather, because domestic or intimate partner violence does not respect any gender. It must be stopped.

12.  If we are really serious in promoting religious tolerance, it must start from our families.

13.  Men must learn to love their wives, tolerate and respect them. Anyone who does love his/her partner, does not love himself or herself.

14. The vulnerability of women is a very strong weapon that they must protect. This vulnerability is the reason why though there were no laws to protect them, they were generally protected by their environment. Gender equality does not mean that no more submission or reciprocate respect to your partner.

Some References

Amao, O. A. (2020). A decade of terror: revisiting Nigeria's interminable Boko Haram insurgency. Secur J, Doi: 10.1057/s41284-020-00232-8.

Amato, P., R., Patterson, S., & Beattie, B. (2016). Single-Parent Households and Children's Educational Achievement: A State-Level Analysis. Soc Sci Res, 53: 191-202. Doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.05.012.

Arndt, N. Y. (1982). Domestic violence: an investigation of psychological aspects of the battered woman; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association. Psychol, Clin, Retrieved on 21.06.2020 at 4:19PM from https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Domestic+violence+an+investigation+of+the+psychological+aspects+of+the+battered+woman&author=NY+Arndt&publication_year=1982& .

Asamoah, K., Yeboah-Assiamah, E., & Osei-Kojo, A. (2013). Demons of Traditional Democracies: Politics of Insults and Acrimony in Ghana. Univ Gha Digital Collections, Retrieved from ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/656789/6567 on 04.07.2020 at 7:15PM.

Banerjee, S. (1999). Warriors in Politics: Religious Nationalism, Masculine Hinduism and the Shiv Sena in Bombay. Women Polit, 20(3): 1-27. Doi: 10.1300/J014v20n03_01.

Basedau, M., P., Pfeiffer, B., & Vüllers, J. (2014). Bad Religion? Religion, Collective Action, and the Onset of Armed Conflict in Developing Countries. J Conflict Resolution, 1-30. Doi: 10.1177/0022002714541853.

Bedi, A. (2018). Islamophobia: A Jungian Analytical Perspective. In: Moffic, H., Peteet, J., Hankir, A., & Awaad, R. (eds). Wisconsin, Chicago, & Arlington, USA: Springer, Cham. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-00512-2_13.

Benenson, J. Y. & Wrangham, R., W. (2016). Cross-Cultural Sex Differences in Post-Conflict Affiliation Following Sports Matches. Curr Biol, 26(16): 2208-2212. Doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.06.024.

Bjarnegård, E., B., Brounéus, K., & Melander, E. (2019). Violence Boyhoods, Masculine Honor Ideology, and Political Violence: Survey Findings From Thailand. J Interpers Viol, Doi: 10.1177/0886260519832926.

Blackwood, B. L. (1999). Threats to Global Health and Survival: The Growing Crises of Tropical Infectious Diseases - Our "Unfinished Agenda". Clin Infect Dis, 28(5): 966-986. Doi: 10.1086/514765.

Borras-Guevara, M., L., Batres, C., & Perrett, D., I. (2019). Fear of Violence among Colombian Women Is Associated with Reduced Preferences for High-BMI Men. Hum Nat, 30(3): 341-369. Doi: 10.1007/s12110-019-09350-8.

Browning, C., R., Calder, C., A., Ford, J., L., Boettner, B., Smith, A., L., & Haynie, D. (2017). Understanding Racial Differenceis in Exposure to Violent Areas: Integrating Survey, Smartphone, and Administrative Data Ressources. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci, 669(1): 41-62. Doi: 10.1177/0002716216678167.

Bӧckler, N., L., Leuschner, V., Zick, A., & Scheithauer, H. (2018). Same but Different? Developmental Pathways to Demonstrative Targeted Attacks - Qualitative Case Analyses of Adolescent and Young Adult Perpetrators of Targeted School Attacks and Jihadi Terrorist Attacks in Germany. Int J Dev Sci, 12(1-2): 5-24. Doi: 10.3233/DEV-180255.

A Fathers' Day Celebration Message Written on 17th June, 2020
Thank you for Reading. Share it, if you like and it is helpful.

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IS PEACE - STOP DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA WITH YOUR FAITH: PROMOTE PEACE

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IS PEACE!

STOP DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA WITH YOUR FAITH: PROMOTE PEACE

If it were not because of COVID-19 Pandemic, 24^th May 2020, would have been one of the busiest days of the world. For Eid ul Fitr falling on Sunday, whilst our Muslim brothers and sisters would be busily praising Allah for a successful fast: Christians too would have been busy glorifying God in our various churches. Unfortunately, a tiny but powerful invisible enemy, SARS-CoV-2 is outside there waiting for the children of God to infect them.

This should tell us that instead of discriminating against and fighting ourselves, we should rather put our differences away, and fight the invisible enemy sitting on our PEACE. Infectious diseases like tuberculosis (Tellier et al., 2019) and natural disasters like hurricanes (Tipson, 2013; Chan et al., 2017) are increasing threats to human health and peace. Instead of focusing on our problems, human beings are rather fighting themselves, and our world is rather increasingly violent than before; especially domestic (Huecker & Smock, 2020), religious (Wibisono et al., 2019; Glock & Stark, 1965), and political violence (Majumdar, 2020)! Amongst all these, “religious violence” is said to have been increasing (Muggah & Velshi, 2019) more; that is a very bad news for us as believers. This is because, increased violence mostly goes with increased discrimination and stigma (Mehta et al., 2019; Torrey, 2011).

The WHO, (2002) defines violence as: “The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either resulted in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation” (Dhahlberg & Krug, 2006). Violence is multidimensional like “Religious extremism” (Wibisono et al., 2019). From, this definition, it means that, when you discriminate against and stigmatize COVID-19 positive persons, you are not only inflicting emotional pains in them; you are giving them psychological problem/violence.

Peace is evolutionally defined by the WHO as a situation in which there is no war and “Structural violence” in our societies (WHO, 2020). But peace and health are interrelated, as can be seen in the WHO definition of health in 1948, as: “A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 2020; PHAST, 2020). The relationship between health and peace is even made clearer in Steinhauer, (2016) definition of peace as an environment full of positive wellbeing without conflict. Violence leads to diseases and infirmities that can let one lose their health and have no peaceful minds!

The WHO world report on violence and health for 2002, declared violence as a global public health problem (WHO, 2002; Dhahlberg & Krug, 2006; Krug et al., 2002). It is revealed by the WHO, ( 2002) and many writers that, violence is not only when people are attacking each other with weapons like guns or cutlasses, but anything that does not allow you to have peace (COE, 2017; Cohen, 2019). The WHO, (2002) gave some examples of violence, such as: emotional or psychological harassment, depriving/neglecting others (very common amongst stigmatized people), hindering others’ developing (sabotage), sexual harassment or starvation and so on.

Religion and culture is identified as one of the fundamental triggers of major global unrests on earth, especially in nations that are yet to develop (Stewart, 2002; Cohen, 2019; WHO, 2002). Religion and culture are like blood and water in our bodies, this is why religion/culture is always amongst the major causes of violence on earth (Stewart, 2002). Some religious violence around the globe (Wibisono et al., 2019; Basedau et al., 2014), testified that religion is really amongst major causes of our 21^st Century World’s unrest. Some political and tribal conflicts even appear in the form of religious identity (Majumdar, 2020; Wibisono et al., 2019; Sule, 2015; Canetti et al., 2010); where there are mostly some forms of political influences in every religious violence (Wibisono et al., 2019). Sule, (2015) has named twenty-seven ethno-religious violence in Northern Nigeria alone which he even said are some of them. As the “light of the world”, we Christians and Muslims who are the majority on earth, must be very ashamed of this shameless revelation! We cannot be preaching peace and justice, and we are the same people causing problems on earth!

Glock & Stark, (1965), trying to explain the multiple associations of religious extrimism, revealed that all religions on earth have five (5) major attributes that distinguish them from one another. These are; differences in religious ideologies (beliefs), intelligence (knowledge), ritualisms (sacrifices), “experiential (feelings or emotions)”, and implications (effects arising from religious differences). My interest amongst these today is the: “Experiential”. COVID-19 has re-affirmed a serious global problem called stigma, where COVID-19 infected persons are stigmatized (Logie & Turan, 2020; BBC., 2020; Starr, 2020).

For fear of being exposed and stigmatized, some COVID-19 positive persons, especially the asymptomatic ones, are seeing those helping them (contact tracers) as their enemies and are threatening them (Asamoah, 2020; Ghanaweb, 2020). A Ghanaian pregnant mother who survived COVI-19 has bitterly complained of how her daughter was discriminated against, stigmatized and stoned by her community (BBC., 2020). A man likewise revealed how his brother discriminated against and stigmatized him because of COVID-19 (Starr, 2020).

Both Holy Books preach and stand for LOVE and PEACE (Brink, 2016; Zaimov, 2015; Akhter & Qadoos, 2017; ALgul, 2017)!  When the Pharisees’ lawyer tempted Jesus by asking him that which of the commandments is the greatest?, he replied: “… love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul ³⁷, … Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ³⁹” (Matthew, 22: 34-40KJV). To help us know who our neighbour is, Jesus gave a parable about a Good Samaritan using a man who was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and how he was help by a “supposed enemy” (Luke, 10:25-37KJV).

He added in (Matthew 5:44-47, KJV) that our ability to love our enemies is what differentiates us from the unbelievers. One who loves does not discriminate or stigmatize others! We are even asked to feed our enemies when we see them go hungry or beg for food from us (Proverbs, 25:21, KJV). Jesus use himself as an example by praying for those who crucified him, though he was going through unbearable pains on the Holy Cross of Calvary (Luke 23: 33-34, KJV). Anyone who does not love his/her neighbor does not love God, because He is love (1John, 4:8KJV).

The Holy Quran also started the peace process and by avoiding religious discrimination in this statement, that: “There is no compulsion where the religion is concerned” (Quran, 2:256; GNN, 2015; Ashley, 2015). I like this particular quote very much, because it exposes religious extremism in which some religious fundamentalists (Azarian, 2018; Weston, 2019) still see their religious opponents as their enemies-the root cause of religious violence! If we really understand this quote, there should be no religious violence (Wibisono et al., 2019; Sule, 2015) or discrimination and stigma on this earth, like seen in the case HIV/AIDs (Reyes-Estrada et al., 2018)?

To pray for someone to be peaceful or find peace in life is a prayer that is found in both Holy Books - Bible and Quran (Steinhauer, 2016), and we can only do this out of love. Jesus himself was always greeting his followers by saying: “Peace be unto you” (John, 20:19-21, KJV; Luke 24:36, KJV) and he said in (Matthew 5:9, KJV) that: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God”. There are hundred Bible Verses on peace alone (Smith, 2020). Up to now, Roman Catholics greet each other by saying: “The Peace of Christ be with you”.

It is said that Quran 56: 25-26 promises anyone who believes that: “Therein they will hear no abusive speech, nor any talk of sin, only the saying, “Peace, peace” (Steinhauer, 2016). The global head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission was lamenting why there is enmity amongst humans globally, saying that Islam is a religion of peace can help solve this (Rashed, 2013). It is natural that, once you see someone as an enemy or a threat to you, you would discriminate against and stigmatize that person. Meanwhile, just as the Holy Bible teaches that we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:44-47, KJV), so does the Holy Quran (Google.com, 2015).

The Holy Quran calls its ways “… The ways of peace” (Quran 5:16) by promoting reconciliation as the best (Quran 4:128), because God hates disturbance of peace (Quran 2:205). Despite these beautiful teachings, most of our members still coin their own ways of creating hatred both interfaith and within the same faiths; resulting in words such as “Unbelievers” and “Infidels” (Ashley, 2015). These words are discriminatory in nature, leading to automatic discrimination and stigma! Forced conversion is something that all religions must avoid! As Pastor Mensah Otabil revealed: “Salvation is not religious, it is a spiritual issue” (Otabil, 2020). Forcing people into the church or mosque is not a guarantee that they will go to Heaven. So, people are worshipping with us only for acceptance (Otabil, 2020), but they are even wicked than “unbelievers”. Today, most criminals have found their way into our places of worship as revealed in most robbery arrests (Wealth, 2020).

What makes things worst is that; though religious intolerance is now a global problem that needs solution, in some countries like Saudi Arabia (which should have been a shining example for the Islamic Nations), small children are thought to discriminate against non-Muslims (Ibrahim, 2019). Though in Ghana Christians and Muslims live as if we have the same belief; in Iraq it is considered as “haram (forbidden)” if a Muslim wishes a Christian merry Christmas (Ibrahim, 2019). I am not a Muslim, but with the little that I have learnt about Islam, I know that Islam is as peaceful as Christianity. From this and the Ghanaian Christian-Muslim relationship, I have seen that our religions are not the problems. We human beings who are the only religious on earth (McCauley, 2018; Coghlan, 2008), are the ones tarnishing the images of our religions. If not, how can our Holy Books preach peace, yet some fundamentalists rejoice in killing in the name of God, as seen in the case of Nigeria (Geller, 2019)?

In (Matthew 7:12, KJV), Jesus: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets”. If you do not want others to maltreat your religious members, why subject others’ religious members to harsh treatments? Relating to this verse to the Greatest Commandment (Matthew, 22: 34-40), such treatments are pure hatred, discrimination or stigma; and cannot be described as love. All religions believe that theirs is the best, and this has resulted in most of them referring to themselves as the selected lucky ones that God chose (Tarico, 2015). This has resulted in automatic discrimination/stigma in which members of the same religion or denomination are treated as special/superior than outsiders.

You will not discriminate against or stigmatize your neighbor if you really love him/her and want peace! When there is no love in your heart and you value peace, you might be hurting others with your actions or inactions like stigma. But, stigma kills (Ruffell, 2017); and religious discrimination (Kawika, 2018) has been an open secret for years. Comments that COVID-19 is a punishment from God (Martin, 2020; Gordon, 2020) or a “Death angel” (Brown, 2020; Dossey, 2020) that God is using to wipe off sinners; does not only affect the compliance level of people, it also increases the level of stigma attached to it. COVID-19 is no respecter of a righteous or a sinner, just comply! When Cain killed his brother Abel, God demanded Abel’s blood from his hands (Genesis, 4:1-15, KJV). If because of stigma others are not willing to comply, and others loss their lives, God will request for their blood from your hands. So, the quick reaction by Christian leaders that COVID-19 is not a disease of sinners, was an excellent move in the right direction (Dennis, 2020).

There is a Beautifully and Peaceful Relationship between Christians and Muslims in Ghana (Abdul-Hamid, 2011). This is a clear demonstration of love that puts a smile on God’s face, and we have to protect it. Through that we can stop discrimination or stigma and any form of evil. destroy it.  Our COVID-19 positive persons need this Love! Love them, Love All: Stop the Stigma. We are the majority on earth, once we don’t support a certain evil behavior, it can never survive!

Recommendations

Ø  As we preach peace, we must find a way of protecting or promoting it through interfaith or religious dialogue.

Ø  Use of words like “Infidels” or “Unbelievers” are discriminatory and should be stopped. Once we believe it is justifiable to harm others because they are infidels or unbelievers, religious violence or stigma will never end.

Ø  Just like no single human being is powerful, no single religion on earth is powerful. All religions should come together to fight against religious intolerance, discrimination/stigma.

Ø   The cry of discrimination and stigma by COVID-19 positive persons, is a revelation that we are not showing love to those who need it most. All religions should compete in doing good or showing love to the less privilege and neglected in society.  

Ø  We are the lights and the salts of the world. If there is no peace on earth, we must bow our heads in shame, because we are the majority. We must all stand up for peace!

Ø  We cannot worship our God in a violent environment as revealed by COVID-19. The examples shown by some religious leaders by donating to support the less privileged during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown or curfew, is worth emulating. 

Ø  Comments that God is using COVID-19 to destroy sinners, create discrimination or stigma and must be avoid as we resume religious activities.