Parliament calls on parents to protect children against coronavirus

The Upper West Regional Children's Parliament has called on parents to protect children from the deadly COVID-19 disease by ensuring that they stayed at home.

It urged the parents to encourage their children to observe the COVID-19 precautionary measures to help control its spread.

Madam Zakia Ibrahim, the Speaker of the Children's Parliament, made the call in a statement issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency on the COVID-19 pandemic in Wa.

"I wish to admonish our parents to ensure the safety of all children. Assist and insist your child is protected against the virus. The first and foremost thing to do in fighting the virus is to stay at home. The virus has no legs, hence, cannot move and spread if we do not move", she said.

She also encouraged the children to regularly wash their hands with soap under clean running water and use alcohol-based hand sanitizers when necessary to help protect themselves from contracting the virus.

She said as schools had been closed down due to the COVID-19, children would like to take that opportunity to roam about, which she said was dangerous to their health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Madam Ibrahim expressed the hope that all parents should take interest in the welfare of their children and encourage them to make use of the academic programmes on television stations and to also learn on their own while at home.

She also appealed to parents to protect their children from the Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) which had claimed several lives in the Upper West Region.

The Pollie Kids, a Wa based youth-led group, inaugurated the Upper West Regional Children's Parliament on March 7, 2020 to help develop the intellectual and leadership skills of the children in the region.