Placing Public Health at the Center of Neotraditional Festivals: The Pros and Cons of Godigbe Border Festival of Aflao, Ghana.

Abstract:

Neotraditional festivals play crucial roles in preserving and transmitting the history and culture of Ghanaian communities, while crucially bolstering public health. Among the Ewe, health is a state of wellness in the physical, spiritual, environmental, and psychosomatic dimensions of society. One major festival celebrated by the Aflao Ewe people is Godigbe, a border festival which attracts both the Ghanaian and Togolese participants. Though Godigbe is critical to environmental, spiritual, social, and physical health, its celebration in recent times has raised concerns due to its adverse impacts on public health. Using qualitative methods, this study chronicles the effects of the Godigbe festival on public health outcomes. The study found that community clean-up exercises, communal exercise, sporting activities, cleansing rituals, and spiritual healing promote positive community health. Despite the benefits of the festival, increased substance abuse, open defecation, violent youth conflicts, environmental pollution, increased sex work, and indiscriminate sex portend the festival. This article argues that the Godigbe festival is a double-edged sword, contributing to positive health outcomes with unintended negative health impacts. This phenomenon calls for solutions to mitigate its negative impacts on society.