Africa-Press – Ghana. ORAWORA, Ghana — Covid-19 cases are virtually non-existent these days here in the dust-covered villages around Worawora in eastern Ghana. Many people in these small communities, where people line narrow, winding roads selling mangoes and vegetables, feel no urgency to get vaccinated — some even run away when health care workers approach with coolers filled with shots.
That wasn’t the case a year ago. Those living in the villages of this district — now a target of U.S. aid donations — wanted the shot when people in their communities were dying back in the spring of 2021. But the doses the world promised Africa didn’t come until months later, health officials here say. Now, a spirit of resistance has set in. Some believe rumors about health risks. Others don’t trust the Western countries sending the vaccine, with local religious leaders and gossips playing on cultural and racial mistrust.But for the health care workers who have struggled to bring modern medicine to the eastern edge of the country, drawing back on their Covid vaccination campaign is not an option. They worry a new, even bigger wave of cases could eviscerate the health care system — one where hospitals and health centers across the country are lacking things like sterilization machines, surgical gowns, oxygen and ultrasound machines.
The system is already struggling to keep up with a slew of systemic health issues that permeate every corner of the country. If doctors and nurses here aren’t dealing with common road traffic trauma cases, they’re treating a myriad of different diseases, including HIV and tuberculosis — even anthrax. And in children, doctors are treating cases of malnutrition. At a nearby district hospital, health care workers treat up to 65 children at once for nutrition issues, giving them formula and fluids on a daily basis.
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