The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
HIGHLANDERS captain, Ariel Sibanda has joined the fight against Covid-19 stigma by recording a one-minute video urging people to shy away from stigmatising those affected by the respiratory disease.
In the video, Sibanda urges people not to spread fear or mistreat those that may be affected by Covid-19. He calls on people to focus on prevention and stemming the spread of the disease.
“Let us not spread fear and mistreat those who may be affected by Covid-19,” said Sibanda.
The video is part of a campaign by the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) aimed at eradicating stigma associated with Covid-19. ZRBF has roped in several public personalities that include Sibanda, Dynamos coach, Tonderai Ndiraya and a number of artistes in the week long campaign.
ZRBF resilience knowledge hub team leader, Aaron Sundsmo, said as more Covid-19 patients recover and return to their homes and communities it is crucial to ensure that they are treated with empathy, dignity and ubuntu.
“No one chooses to contract coronavirus and there is no one to blame. We decided to partner with sports personalities on our anti-stigma campaign, as we found the local teams were extremely passionate about serving their communities and were looking for ways to get involved in the Covid-19 response, so it really was a natural fit.
“These sports personalities have built credibility over many years with their audience, so can reach Zimbabweans in an impactful way to get this important message across,” said Sundsmo.
ZRBF is a multi-donor programme managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), the Embassy of Sweden, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the government of Denmark.
