The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has called for an intersectoral collaboration which includes the media to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the overall health outcome of the people.
It said while all areas including case management and surveillance were very key, advocacy, social mobilization and community engagement played very critical roles in increasing public confidence and adherence to the safety and preventive protocols.
Mrs Mabel Kissiwah Asafo, the Deputy Director, Advocacy and Social Mobilisation, Health Promotion Division of the Ghana Health Service, who made this known during a webinar meeting organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in collaboration with Journalists for Human Rights said Ghana has done well to reduce the burden of the pandemic through its COVID-19 response strategy.
The meeting was on the theme, “COVID-19 Education: Growing Disregard for Safety Protocols”. Speakers with the topic: Growing Disregard for Safety Protocols: A failed Mobilsation Strategy of Ghana?
She said despite the successes chalked in dealing with the pandemic, conspiracy theories, rumours, ignorance, fear and anxiety, myths and misconceptions, infrastructural challenges and vaccine hesitancy have been the major challenges to adherence to the safety and preventive protocols.
Mrs Asafo in her presentation noted that health was determined not only by the provision of medical care or health services but also by economic, social, political and environmental variables in communities.
Improving health, therefore, depends on the role of all sectors and the effectiveness of their collaboration, she stated.
Superintendent Sheilla Kessie Abayie-Buckman, the Director of Public Affairs, Ghana Police Service, spoke on the mandate of the Police and how they have assisted government by ensuring that Ghanaians complied with the safety protocols.
She also educated participants on the Police law enforcement scope.
Superintendent Abayie-Buckman stated that in as much as the Police were doing their job by ensuring that people complied with the protocols, the regular Police work was also faced challenges.
She asked that moving forward things should be done differently to promote adherence to the safety protocols.
