- About a quarter (26%) of Ghanaians say a member of their household lost a job, business, or primary source of income due to the pandemic, while 2% report that someone in their household became ill with COVID-19 or tested positive for the virus.
- About six in 10 Ghanaians (59%) say they have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19.
- Three-fourths (76%) of Ghanaians say the government has performed “fairly well” or “very well” in managing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- More than four in 10 Ghanaians (42%) say the government is not prepared to deal with future public health emergencies.
In Ghana, the first two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on 12 March 2020 (Ministry of Health, 2020). As of 10 January 2023, the country had recorded 171,065 cases of COVID-19 with 1,461 deaths (World Health Oranization, 2023).
In response to the pandemic, the government declared a ban on public gatherings (funerals, festivals, workshops, conferences, rallies, church activities, and schools); closed schools as well as land, sea, and air borders; and imposed a three-week partial lockdown on the capital city of Accra and its environs as well as Kumasi, the second-largest city in the country (Darkwah, 2021). The government also launched a mass vaccination campaign throughout the country that has resulted in 36% of the population being either fully or partially vaccinated as of early December 2022 (Our World in Data, 2022).
Pandemic-related restrictions led to economic slowdowns across the country. Many businesses shut down, and many people lost sources of income (Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 2021; Aduhene & Osei-Assibey, 2021). Government measures to lessen the economic impacts of the pandemic included free/subsidised water and electricity supply; favourable loans to qualified micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises; and provision of free food and other necessities, in collaboration with religious organisations, to affected households in Accra and Kumasi during the partial lockdown (Dadzie & Raju, 2020).
Findings from the latest Afrobarometer survey show that a quarter of Ghanaians say that a household member lost a job or primary source of income due to the pandemic. A majority of citizens think that the government was unfair in its distribution of pandemic-related relief assistance and that at least some of the resources intended for the COVID-19 response were lost to corruption.
A majority of Ghanaians report having received the COVID-19 vaccine, but almost three in 10 say they are unlikely to get vaccinated.
Overall, citizens give the government positive ratings for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a majority say it should invest more resources in preparations for the next public health emergency.
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