Paper short abstract:

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic is responded with interventions, including public health and safety measures (PHSM) on transmission, morbidity and mortality. The success of such PHSM depends on communal participation in decision-making, acceptance, ownership and implementation.

Paper long abstract:

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many countries and their health set-ups have responded with interventions, including public health and safety measures (PHSM) on transmission, morbidity and mortality. The success of such PHSM depends on communal participation in decision-making, acceptance, ownership and implementation. In Ghana, state confiscation and burial of certified COVID-19-related deaths and ban on funerals were planned and rolled-out. This was met with strong resistance, because of the inability for families to perform the affective and symbolic burial rites for loved ones. Littles is known about the extends of acceptability of sensitive PHSM to inform preparedness for future pandemics. It is therefore critical to understand the cultural sensitivity of the burial rites to generate information for communal engagement on the control of the current as well as future pandemics. Based on this, we set out to explore and understand the cultural burial rites and affect therein and how that influence engagement, acceptance and adherence to COVID-19 PHSM in the Central Regional Health Directorate operation area. The study is situated within a qualitative exploratory design, based on ethnography and within an ecological framework. About 20 to 30 participants will be sampled based on purposiveness and engaged in face-to-face in-depth interviews, with recourse to point of saturation. Preliminary information indicates that burial rites and their affect is important to individuals and families and that public engagement is important in pandemic control.