Kpone (Near Tema), Oct. 15, GNA – A year-long sensitization programme on COVID-19 mental health project in Kpone, initiated by the Human Right Advocacy Center (HRAC), a Not-for-Profit Organization, in collaboration with the Kpone-Katamanso and the Ashaiman Municipal Health Directorates has ended.
The project was to improve the mental wellbeing of persons with COVID-19 related mental health experience in two most at-risk communities in the Greater Accra Region.
Ms Selasi Ewurabena Ahema Tsegah, Acting Executive Director (HRAC), delivering an address at the, “End of Project Stakeholder Meeting” said, improving the mental wellbeing of persons with COVID-19 related mental health issues was a worthy experience.
Ms Tsegah explained that the project, which was well-executed through its activities, engaged stakeholders and built their capacity on COVID-19 and its related mental health implications.
She said HRAC formed and trained Community Support Groups and Community Youth Champions who sensitized targeted communities on COVID-19 by providing them with psychosocial support.
She stated that the project established a mobile clinic headed by a wellness coach to deal with the mental wellness of the beneficiaries; “as at July 14, 2021, the project had educated and sensitized over 6,700 direct beneficiaries including 3,500 youth on mental health implications related to COVID-19”.
Dr Priscilla Esther Biamah–Danquah, Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Health Director, expressed gratitude to HRAC for their kind gesture during the peak of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Dr Biamah-Danquah stated that, though the figures of affected person were declining, the various safety protocols must be strictly adhered to, and said HRAC must continue to sensitize the public in order to curb the spread of the virus to sustain the project.
The Municipal Health Director advised that stigmatizing persons with the COVID-19 virus was not a healthy practice, and explained that such people needed to be given the right support as they mostly went through mental and emotional challenges too.
HRAC project, supported by Ghana Somubi Dwumadie Group with funding from UKaid, identified Ashaiman and Kpone Katamanso Municipalities as two areas most at risk during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020.
GNA