Ghana in COVID-19 pandemic: government responses and impact on local communities
Agnes KHOO
ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on how COVID-19 is affecting Ghana and how the government’s response to the pandemic impacts on the people. It highlights the challenges faced by a developing economy with a fragile public health system, compounded by the contradictions and tensions inherent in the country’s political, economic and socio-cultural realities. While COVID-19 does not discriminate against class, race, gender or age, its repercussions varied and are accentuated particularly along class lines, as well as between the Global North and South. The paper concludes by illuminating critical factors that should underlie government policies in navigating the country through the crisis.
KEYWORDS: Public health; COVID-19; Ghana; West Africa; Coronavirus; urbanization, China-US relations
Notes on contributor
Agnes Khoo has a doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Manchester, U.K.; MA degree in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands and a BA degree in Sociology/Social Work from the National University of Singapore. Agnes has lived and worked in Asia and Europe before teaching in Webster University (Ghana), West Africa where she co-founded a community-based, social enterprise to support rural youth and women in employment and education. She has published on Gender, Oral History, Migrants and Migration, Africa-Asia Relations, as well as translation works on Migration, Southeast Asia, Activism and Internationalism.