The East Mamprusi Municipal office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the North East Region has concluded its second phase of the pubic sensitization campaign on the spread of the novel Coronavirus Disease in the area.

The campaign, which was done in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, the Information Services, and the Municipal Planning Committee on COVID-19, was to equip members of the public with the right information surrounding the outbreak and spread of the pandemic.

It was to educate the general public on the existence of the virus, its mode of transmission, restrictive measures put in place to fight it, and how individuals could observe the prescribed protocols from health experts including the World Health Organizations to fight the virus.

Mr Abu Alhassan Nassam, the Municipal Director of the NCCE, stated that the sensitization drive which had financial support from the Presidency and the COVID-19 Trust Fund was targeted at the general public at various locations, including lorry stations, markets, places of worship, principal streets and within communities among others.

“The goal of the programme was to deepen public awareness about the prevention and management of COVID-19 including the Government’s measures and directives in response to the pandemic, tackle the growing challenge of stigmatization and encourage the citizenry to adopt healthy lifestyles,” he said.

Mr Nassam said the virus was real and mentioned some of the signs and symptoms as fever, dry cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, and in some cases could lead to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

The Municipal Director reminded members of the public that the standard recommendations to prevent the spread of the infection were, regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs, wearing of facemasks and practicing social and physical distancing.

He said public education was done through various strategies including dawn and dusk announcements, public engagement at market places, engagement with identifiable groups, distribution of circulars to local authorities, and engagement with voters at the registration centres during the voters’ registration exercise.

He said the directorate was able to implement a total of 61 activities and reached out to 5648 persons including 2555 males and 3093 females.
While admonishing the public to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols, the Municipal Director said, “this situation calls for extensive awareness creation on the COVID 19 to build upon on-going efforts by government and the global community to win the war against the pandemic.”

Mr Nassam further urged members of the public to avoid stigmatizing suspected, confirmed, or recovered persons of COVID-19 as it defeats the efforts to fight the virus and could lead to mental illness.