Phase two of the COVID-19 Intervention and Awareness Outreach (CIAO) project has begun to educate and remind the population about the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to promote the observance and adherence to the safety protocols.

It is also to broaden the scope of the COVID-19 awareness campaign while providing self-employable skills to help improve the livelihoods of residents in implementing communities.

This new phase is being implemented within three months by Health, Education, Research and Policy (HERPol) – Africa, a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with Stratcomm Africa and funded by MasterCard Foundation.

A total of 36 communities in various districts in the Northern Region will be covered.

This new phase comes on the back of the earlier one implemented by the same partners in 30 communities where beneficiaries received some relief items and personal protective equipment to protect them against the virus as well as taught to produce facemasks to help lessen the socio-economic impact on them.

Dr Osman Dufailu, Executive Director of HERPol-Africa, who explained the project during its launch at Jana, a community in the Nanton District, said as part of this new phase, data would be collected on community residents’ attitudinal and behavioural change towards the COVID-19 pandemic to inform policy response on combating the disease in the country.

Dr Dufailu emphasised the need for all to continue to observe the safety protocols saying “We can be very tired of following the safety protocols but the virus is not tired. We need to follow the safety protocols with keen interest.”

He called on policy-makers to prioritise and invest in research to inform a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Naa Alhassan Iddrisu, a Chief from Gbalshe, who chaired the event, also emphasised the need for community members to continue to adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols to avoid the disease.

Source: GNA