UN releases message booklet on Ghana’s coronavirus response

The United Nations Office in Ghana has released a booklet of key messages covering COVID-19 preventive and impact mitigating measures, and the contributions of the UN to the national response.

In a press release issued by the UN Information Centre in Accra on Monday, it said the messages, aligned with individual agencies’ mandates, provide a framework for strategic communications to support the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts of the Government of Ghana.

The aim, it said, was to provide the public with accurate information on the virus and increase understanding of UN’s support in recovery efforts and in building resilience for the future.

It mentioned some of the areas of intervention by the United Nations in Ghana as; enhancing medical and healthcare infrastructure and facilities, assistance in repurposing public spaces into medical response operations, encouraging the dissemination of research findings and technological innovation across borders, and ensuring the need to strengthening scientific facts to debunk misinformation.

According to the release, the key messages booklet provides information on COVID-19 preventive measures, and recommendations on how to mitigate the impact of the virus.

It also covers several programme areas, including health and wellbeing, sexual and reproductive health, food security, nutrition, human rights, children’s rights, the AIDS epidemic, education, urban development, migration, reducing gender-based violence and anti-stigmatization, signifying the importance of a whole-of society response to COVID-19.

“We all have a role to play in controlling this disease. We hope that the UN Ghana COVID-19 key messages booklet will serve as a go-to resource for accurate information on the pandemic and be useful for stakeholders and partners disseminating information or rolling out COVID-19 response and recovery interventions in the communities,” says Charles Abani, the UN Resident Coordinator for Ghana.

The release indicated that since the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the virus had spread to many countries and territories, and that as of 30 August 2020, there had been more than 24 million cases reported and over 800,000 deaths worldwide.

It said the information presented in the booklet, which was currently available on the UN Ghana website, would be useful to the media, health and development practitioners, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, students, and the public.