The Managing Director of Barry Callebaut, Charity Sackitey has strongly kicked against the stigmatization of persons diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease.
She said stigmatization of such persons and their families puts the entire country at risk and brings to zero the effort being made by the government at combating the disease in the country.
She said, “Stigmatising could become the most dangerous weapon which could derail the progress made in the fight against this disease if we do not stop it now. I want Ghanaians to understand that COVID-19 is also not as dangerous as many other diseases we are used to, as we see that far more people who get infected are recovering; but very sad to hear that some people in the society are discriminating and even stigmatising people who have contracted the disease together with their families which is not the best as we are all at risk”.
Madam Sackitey made these remarks when she made a donation of some relief items on behalf of Barry Callebaut Company Limited to the Kpone Katamanso and Ashaiman Municipal Assemblies as part of the company’s effort at reaching out to the poor and needy within these catchment areas.
On behalf of the Company, she presented some assorted food items including several bags of rice, cartons of ideal milk, sachets of tomato paste as well as several cartons of cooking oil worth thousands of Ghana cedis to the two municipal assemblies.
“We are here to stand by the communities in which we live and work and to provide support to those who have been hardest hit by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Barry Callebaut, a cocoa processing company located within the Freezones enclave in Tema is into the processing of raw cocoa beans into semi-finished products for export.
Madam Sackitey called on the reinforcement of education on the disease as most people still see it as a myth.
She advised that despite the lifting of the ban on movement, there is the need for continued adherence to the safety protocols to reduce the spread of the disease.
—citinewsroom