The Relevance of Community Education in Guinea Worm Eradication Effort in Savelugu District

Abstract

Guinea worm is a dreadful disease which the world is making every effort to eradicate.  Ghana is ranked second most infected country in the world and Savelugu district is recorded as topping the list of infected areas in Ghana.

This exploratory study, through interviews and observation attempted to find out why Guinea worm disease was persistent in Savelugu district, and the effort put in place to address the disease.  It was noted that, socio-cultural attitudes and practices constituted a major drawback in an effort to eradicate the disease. The study found out that through the efforts of Jimmy Carter, a former U.S president, a ’Guinea worm Containment Centre’ had been established to help treat those infected. In addition there was existing government hospital at Savelugu, but those infected were not willing to patronize the hospital and the Containment Centre. Initially those infected with the guinea worm disease refused to patronize the health centres because they were of the view that the cause of the disease was through a curse or caused by a witch. The study found out that it took a lot of education to get the community to accept the orthodox medicine and to report cases of infected persons.The paper therefore strongly recommends that health is a social construct and therefore community health education and health literacy should play a major role in prevention and management of diseases.

Keywords: health education, Health literacy, community education, guinea worm, diffusion innovation