Health Service Director of the Ayawaso West Municipality, Dr. Louisa Ademki Martey speaking with the community members
The Mastercard Foundation, together with Ghana’s premier communication agency, Stratcomm Africa, has begun a series of community engagements on Covid-19 prevention.
The latest market and community sensitization on Covid-19 safety and preventive protocols took place at the Okponglo Park within East Legon.
With the use of the local creative industry, the two organisations delivered the message of preventive care for individuals, families, and communities in a compelling and fun way.
A mobile vaccination centre was also set up to provide vaccination services to the public.
Health Service Director of the Ayawaso West Municipality, Dr. Louisa Ademki Martey, also educated the participants on the new Covid-19 trends and answered their questions regarding some Covid-19 vaccine myths.
She said the Covid-19 vaccines are safe and have proven to be effective in reducing hospitalization due to the infection.
Representative of the partners, Myra Ankrah, said the Mastercard Foundation has young people at heart adding that the Foundation has partnered with the local creative industry to run digital campaigns across social media to sensitize and encourage Ghanaians to observe and take up positive Covid-19 protocols such as the wearing of facemasks, maintaining physical distancing, and regular hand washing.
She said Mastercard Foundation is determined to support Ghanaians especially the youth to withstand and overcome the devastating short-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and also strengthen their resilience in the long term.
“We have come a long way since 2020. It’s December 2021, but even now, many are still being infected and affected by Covid-19 because some of us continue to let down our guard or even refuse to work with the preventive protocols,” Mrs. Ankrah said.
She further noted that the negative impact of the pandemic is affecting all hence the need to revamp sensitization activities in communities.
She also noted that Stratcomm Africa believes that communication is a critical tool for national development and livelihood enhancement.
“For us, therefore, partnership with the Mastercard Foundation fails in line with our continuous effort to facilitate change using communication.
As a mature communications agency with cultural sensitivity as our hallmark, we can deliver messages, including health-related messages in different cultural contexts.”
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri