Harnessing the tenets of health promotion and wise reasoning in managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana and similar contexts

ABSTRACT

The emergence of COVID-19 in December 2019 produced new geographic spaces characterized by physical and social distancing with concomitant surprises. In Ghana, management of the first and second waves of the pandemic garnered mixed reactions from the populace. Against these perspectives, this commentary explored the critical role of health promotion and wise reasoning tenets in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, specifically through the following eight principles: intellectual humility; acknowledging uncertainty and change; perspective-taking of different viewpoints; integration of diverse perspectives; intersectorality; sustainability; empowerment and public health engagement; and equity. Our analyses demonstrate that wise reasoning and health promotion from Ghana’s political authorities are critical to ensure citizens’ compliance with the several measures that require a change of behavior.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• Ghana
• health promotion
• intellectual humility
• wise reasoning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Senanu Kwasi Kutor

Senanu Kwasi Kutor is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Western Ontario, London Ontario, Canada. His research interests span migration and subjective wellbeing, geographies of wisdom, social theory, urban informality in cities of the developing world, international migration, and transnationalism. Senanu is a student member of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG).

Eunice Annan-Aggrey

Eunice Annan-Aggrey is a Ph.D. Candidate of the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Her research interests include international development, the Sustainable Development Goals, gender equality, local governance, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.

Austin Dziwornu Ablo

Austin Dziwornu Ablo is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Resource Development at the University of Ghana, Legon. His research interests include urban studies, natural resource governance, energy, agriculture and development, and entrepreneurship and employment.

Adjoa Afriyie Poku

Adjoa Afriyie Poku is a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. She received a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies (Specializing in Geography) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and a PhD and Postdoctoral studies in Geography from Nottingham University. Her research interests and publications are on population, medical and health geography.

Emmanuel Kyeremeh

Emmanuel Kyeremeh is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. He is a mixed method theoretically driven social scientist who specializes in understanding the multidimensional process associated with immigrant integration in destination countries. His current research examines changes in personal networks between the native-born American and foreign-born in California.