By Emmanuel Nyatsikor
Ho, July 4, GNA – Mr Samuel Yao Atidzah, the Executive Director of GOSANET Foundation, a Health NGO in the Adaklu district, has urged Ghanaians to make handwashing an integral part of their daily activities.
“Though WHO has declared that Covid-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, handwashing should be taken seriously,” he said.
Mr Atidzah, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, said many people had relegated the exercise to the background because of the declaration of WHO on the pandemic.
General Teduos Adhanom Ghebreysus, the Director General of WHO disclosed that the Covid-19 Emergency Committee, led by his outfit, met on 04 May 2023 and agreed that the pandemic no longer constituted a public health emergency of international concern.
He advised that it was time to transition to long-term management of the pandemic.
Mr Atidzah insisted that handwashing was one of the surest ways for preventing many diseases and needed to be done religiously.
He noted that sanitation issues had improved in the Adaklu district due to the intensive education of GOSANET Foundation in collaboration with other stakeholders.
Mr Atidzah said the Ghana Coalition of NGOs In Health was also engaging community volunteers and mobilisers to support the WHO funded Social Mobilisation and Demand Generation for Covid-19 in the district.
As part of these activities, GOSANET Foundation in collaboration with the District Directorate of the Ghana Health Service was sensitising communities, and religious bodies on the above, he said.
“GOSANET Foundation has been given the mandate to carry out community level Social and Behavioral Change Communication activities on Malaria Prevention and Control in the district,” he said.
He said malaria cases had reduced drastically in the district due to persistent education.
GNA