Media coverage of COVID-19 indigenous knowledge systems, stigma, socio-economic and political impacts in Ghana

Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 - the disease caused by the novel coronavirus- as a pandemic, the disease has been receiving increasing attention from media professionals and organisations in Africa and other regions. Many guidelines and resources have been published to guide media coverage of the pandemic in Africa. For example, the Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/gijn-africareporting-covid-19/) has listed some guidelines to aid COVID-19 coverage in Africa, West Africa or specific countries such as Ghana, the Gambia, Kenya and Uganda. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of the media reporting guidelines on COVID-19 integrates how to report COVID-19 stigma in Africa, the use and adaptation of indigenous knowledge systems to support diagnostics, prevention and treatment of COVID-19; and the socio-economic, political and cultural impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the African Media Centre for Excellence's resource "Telling the story of Covid-19 in Africa: A basket of ideas" (https://acme-ug.org/2020/05/13/tellingthe-story-of-covid-19-in-africa-a-basket-of-ideas/) guides African journalists to report several themes including economics, labour, agriculture or governance but does not highlight the role of indigenous knowledge systems in addressing the pandemic in Africa. As African countries battle COVID-19 with innovations from indigenous knowledge systems to aid diagnostics, prevention and control of the pandemic, journalists need to let the general public become aware of them. Many people are also having challenges with food security in part fuelled by the lockdowns and the limited movements of people across communities, thus impacting negatively on the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. Moreover, as more people recover from the disease, they are increasingly being stigmatised. Ghana, an African country with an estimated 31 million people, typifies the integration of indigenous knowledge systems, stigma and socio-economic and political impacts of the pandemic. First, through an innovative testing strategy, Ghana had tested 254,331 individuals as of 14 June 2020 (3), making it one of the top performing African countries in terms of testing COVID-19, according to the 11th address of the country's President Nana Akuffo-Addo on 14 June 2020. Second, COVID-19 patients who have recovered and their family members are being stigmatised in their communities. Thus, some people including journalists and members of parliaments with the disease are unwilling to self-quarantine. Third, the political impacts of COVID-19 in Ghana has even become more pronounced given that the country is expected to go to the polls in December this year to elect to elect a president and members of parliaments. There is therefore an urgent need for a science journalism approach that integrates the use and adaptation of COVID-19 indigenous knowledge systems, fights COVID-19 stigma among the population and highlights the socioeconomic, cultural and political impacts of COVID-19 in Ghana. Expected Outputs This engagement will enable the team to seek the perspectives of these key actors to generate information that will facilitate the creation of COVID-19 media reporting guidelines with a focus on indigenous knowledge systems, stigma, and socio-economic, cultural and political impacts of COVID-19. Using findings from the phone interviews and other resources, we will create evidence-based media reporting guidelines with a focus on indigenous knowledge systems, stigma, and socio-economic, cultural and political impacts of COVID-19 in Ghana. We will also launch small grants for 60 science journalists interested in covering indigenous knowledge systems, stigma, and socioeconomic, cultural and political impacts of COVID-19. Furthermore, we will use a 3-day Zoom meeting to engage with the 60 selected journalists and train them in how to report on indigenous knowledge systems, stigma, and socio-economic, cultural and political impacts of COVID-19 in Ghana. Team members involved in this proposal have experience in training journalists in health reporting. The 60 journalists will be trained according to the selected tracts. The call for participating journalists will be advertised on social media and as press releases in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association. We will also monitor the outcome of the project by analysing contents of COVID-19 stories published by stipend recipients before and after receiving the stipend. Finally, we will monitor the outcome of the project by analysing contents of COVID-19 stories published by stipend recipients before and after receiving the stipend.