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The Malawi Bishops’ Conference (MCC) has expressed concern about the stigmatization of Covid-19 patients, which affects even those who have recovered or died. The bishops advocate the establishment of a solidarity network at the parish level for those affected.
History
This non-profit organization was founded in 1966. The founding organs of the ECM are the General Assembly of Bishops, the Catholic Secretariat and six committees (Development of the Catholic Church, Justice and Peace, Education, Health, Pastoral Care and Communication).
For the Malawian bishops, it is “inhumane” to see how the sick people of Covid-19 suffer in their loneliness and isolation, to the point of sometimes being buried “without dignity”. They recommend the setting up, in the parishes, of a network of solidarity with the sick, healed or not, as well as with the families of those who have died from the coronavirus. They generally urge Catholics to pray and make daily offerings for the recovery of the sick.
In hospitals, even priests affected by the pandemic were left alone without food. While some have recovered, others have lost their lives. On its Facebook page, MCC has published five deaths of priests, as a result of Covid-19, that occurred between mid-January and February 2, 2021.
Marginalized Despite Recovery
Stigmatization of Covid-19 patients is not unique to Malawi. In many African countries, the disease is considered stigmatizing in the same way as AIDS, malaria or Ebola fever, which kill less than Covid. In Ghana and Niger, for example, coronavirus patients and their relatives described to the BBC what they endure daily after recovering from Covid-19. Everyone shuns them, and some have to hide the fact that they have been ill from those around them.
The World Health Organization (WHO), governments and religious leaders regularly call on the population to avoid this stigmatization.
