The Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) has constituted five-member teams at selected districts in the Savannah, Northern, Savannah and North East Regions of Gjana as part of its risk communication and community engagement activities to educate members of the public on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.
The teams will use a lot of communication tools and skills including megaphones at public places such as, markets, radio stations and community information centres to spread the message on the disease to inform behavioural change towards halting its spread.
The teams are made up of the District Officers of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), District Officers of the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS), Health Promotion, Disease Control Officers, and Volunteers of Ghana Red Cross Society.
The selected Districts to carry out this activities include; Chereponi, Bunkpurugu/ Nakpanduri, East Mamprusi, West Mamprusi, Bole, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, North Gonja, Saboba, and Tatale-Sanguli, all located in the North East, Savannah and Northern Regions.
This followed a two days Training of Trainers workshop held in Tamale on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th April, 2020.
The workshop was attended by members of the teams to review the GRCS’s activities in the area of emergencies and what to do during this coronavirus pandemic and CSM to save lives.
The workshop which was organised by the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) with support from the Swiss Red Cross, was also used to update participants on the facts about corona virus, the precautionary measures to contain it and risk communication on it to enable them to better educate members of the public on the disease.
Speaking to Bole based Nkilgi Fm, the Northern Regional Manager of Ghana Red Cross society Mr Abdul-Rahamani Yussif said the move was in line with their emergency activities to strengthen community resilience to save lives and properties.
Mr. Abdul-Rahamani said the Ghana Red Criss Society officers and volunteers were already visiting homes to educate residents in the communities on the disease, but had to suspend it because of fears of infections, hence the decision to adopt a more suitable strategy to educate the public.
He advised members of the teams to be guided by the code of conduct of the Ghana Red Cross Society and observe the highest standard of precautions in the discharge of their duties, emphasising that; “As much as you want to save lives you need to protect yourselves from being infected with the virus.”
He further advised them to desist from sharing unsubstantiated information and rumours about the disease on social media to avoid misleading community members.
Mr Iddrisu Abubakari Ziblim, the Northern Regional Human Resource Manager of NADMO reminded the participants that the education on the COVID-19 was a national exercise and urged them to be effective on the field.
Source: nkilgifmonline.com
