Koose episode on World Health Day

Yesterday, Tuesday April 7, 2020 was World Health Day. I am not sure you were aware of it in previous years. I wasn’t. Maybe outside the relatively small circle of health professionals, not many people ever take notice of this day. It is different this year, of course. That is one more “achievement” of COVID-19.

This year, world leaders have made statements on this date, including a message to the Commonwealth and the world by Queen Elizabeth.

World Health Day

The day is set aside to celebrate the contribution of health workers and concentrate the minds of world leaders, the international community and the general public on the importance of health and those who provide it for the rest of us. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has provided a number of inspiring quotes to help celebrate the day. My favourite is this:

“Health is a large word. It embraces not the body only, but the mind and spirit as well;… and not today’s pain or pleasure alone, but the whole being and outlook of a man (and woman). —  James H. West

This year’s theme is: “Support nurses and midwives” and WHO selected this year as the Year of Nurses and Midwives. In a message, Dr Takeshi Kasai, the WHO Director for the Western Pacific, said the following:

“Nurses are the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 response. The invaluable role they have played is testimony of their sacrifice, courage and commitment to a healthier and safer world”.

Of course, those words apply not only to those whose work designation is “nurse” but all health workers, including people who work to support health workers. I watched a video of a COVID-19 patient (now recovered) when she was in intensive care in the UK. When she was interviewed after she left hospital, she thanked everyone who helped to care for her —including the cleaners.

Unsung heroes

So, today let us remember all our unsung heroes — health workers of all description who work to keep people healthy and alive, sometimes at the cost of their own health, safety and life. Their sacrifice is in sharp relief today as the number of Covid-19 infections in Ghana rises and is set to rise even higher when more tests results are revealed.

Even as the numbers rise, one has to ask whether the message of this frightening pandemic has hit home. It appears that more work has to be done, especially on the need for physical distancing and even why we must stay at home. There appears to be no change in the way we carry on, and in fact, some people are inclined to treat the whole thing as a joke.

This morning, I went to buy koose, which I had been without for a number of days. There was a short queue with all the people bunched together. I stood about a metre behind the last person waiting for my turn.

Two young men came and stepped ahead of me in the queue. I called them back and told them I was part of the queue but was observing social distancing. They burst into laughter as if I had told the best joke they ever heard; which was perhaps the case.

Social distances, hahaha hehehe, they guffawed for several seconds. When they exhausted their response to humour, I decided to use the occasion as a teaching moment and explain why the need to create distances between any two people.

Once a teacher

Once a teacher always a teacher. After my brief lecture, I allowed them to stay ahead of me in the queue. You won’t believe what happened next. One of them bought all the Koose available at that point, I think out of spite. The two guys left laughing their heads off as I had to return without any koose.

I don’t think a word of what I said went in. If words at such close quarters are not getting through, one has to ask whether all the information and messages being provided are not a waste of hot air! I suggest the government will have to find ways of communicating more effectively to different segments of society.

Let me give an example. I believe that my two koose friends would probably listen to a message from Dede Ayew or Asamoah Gyan rather than the Minister of Health whose name they did not know. I asked them.

So, as we salute our health workers on this important day, it is equally important to consider how best to get the communication through to the different audiences. As with medical care, in communication, there is nothing like one size fits all.