Death of COVID-19, Early Burial and Social Health: Between Preservation of Life and Respect for Culture

Abstract

Purpose: Death is a difficult moment which is managed in a particular way at the individual and collective level. It is synonymous with dysfunction at both the family and social levels. As such, a set of regulatory measures is put in place to restore the balance. In Africa and in Cameroon, the organization of funerals is an important moment for the recognition of the person who has left, but also for the members of the family, social and cultural body who remain. Therefore this paper aims to research the perceptions around early burial in context of COVID-19 and the impact on social life.Methodology: To achieve this, the researcher adopted a methodological approach specific to anthropology with field research based on individual interviews.Findings: This shows that burial is a kind of therapy. This organization responds to and is part of a particular care process. The failure to respect the dead is often the source of other problems of social balance and health.Conclusion: With the COVID-19 pandemic, new rules of life and social organization have emerged. And these are also visible and lived in the management of the deaths of this pandemic.Recommendation: It would therefore be important to give families the possibility of carrying out certain rites related to death and burial for the psychic and social balance.