The Head of Quality Management Unit, Ministry of Health, Mr Ernest Konadu Asiedu, has urged Ghanaians to dispose of their nose masks properly after use.
“When we remove the nose mask it is always important that we dispose of it appropriately. Hold where the string is, close to the ear to remove it, dispose it off appropriately into a bin that is covered, them wash or sanitize your hand,” he said.
The Ministry had observed that people touched the nose mask in a way that got them contaminated because the dirtiest part of the mask was the part that was exposed to the environment, he said.
“That is the reason for wearing it so that it would prevent the virus entering our nose and mouth,” he said.
Mr Asiedu said this at the second phase of the COVID-19 Theater in Education Project, organised by the Centre for National Culture (CNC), at the Tema Lorry Station in Accra.
He said, on average, the part of the body that people would touch regularly included the face, and so deliberately or not, one would unconsciously touch the face unawares, so wearing the mask appropriately was as important as disposing them off.
“We have taken notice of the fact that people wear nose mask but ultimately it turns out to be a chin mask or a neck mask, but we plead that we ensure that the mask covers the bridge of the nose right to below the chin, so it can protect us from being exposed to the virus,” he said.
Mr Asiedu said the Ministry had put in a lot of efforts to ensure that the ordinary person was safe and healthy, and from time to time had provided some form of education and update on the pandemic.
He commended the Centre for using theatrical arts to showcase their activities as far as COVID-19 education was concerned and urged all to continue adhering to the three major preventing measures.
“These are wearing of nose masks, handwashing with soap under running water, and social distancing, and make sure not to lose our guard,” Mr Asiedu said.
“Globally there is a third wave, but based on the precautions we have been putting in place, we haven’t seen that third wave in Ghana, but if we don’t continue with the preventative mechanisms, it is possible we’ll get into a third wave.”
Mrs Alice Alima Kala, the Regional Director of CNC, said theatre and education went very far and were effective in communicating.
“Since it includes acting, people tend to learn more and pick messages from it. That’s why we adopted this method to spread the message of COVID-19 to the ordinary Ghanaian,” she said.
Mrs Kala said although Ghanaians adhered to the protocols during the peak of the pandemic, along the line there was a decline in adherence, hence the idea by the CNC to use theatre and arts to convey the message that the disease was still around and real.
The target was to reach out to the communities in the Greater Accra Region that were identified as epic centres and try to convey the message in the simplest language to them to help curtail the spread.
