<<Print>>

Director of Health Promotion in Ghana, Dr Dacosta Aboagye has attributed the rapid increase in the case count of the novel coronavirus to non-compliance of the safety protocols by Ghanaians.

According to him, public education must be intensified with the help of Queen mothers, Kings and Celebrities in the country to create awareness on the need to adhere to safety protocols.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, the Chairman of Risk Communication and Social Mobilization Committee for Ghana’s COVID-19 Response Team asserted that if Ghanaians had complied with the laid down safety protocols, the cases of the COVID-19 should have reduced to an appreciable number.

“The case count is shooting up . . .  I will plead with Ghanaians to make sure that they know that they have a responsibility to adhere to the safety protocols, because ideally if everyone complies with the safety protocols as we have put down, the cases should be coming down,” he indicated.

“ . . we need the media, Queen mothers, Kings and Celebrities in the country to help in the public education about the COVID-19. We also need the Ministry of Information to help the frontline health workers to intensify the education on the novel coronavirus so that everyone will know about it,” he stressed.

He professed that the real challenge in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is the adherence to the safety protocol as every Ghanaian knows about the existence of the new coronavirus; thus, Ghanaians are new to the culture of wearing masks every day and observing social distancing, hence the need to continuously educate the general public on the safety protocols.

“The issue is that behaviour change is a process and it is true that we are introducing something new to our culture, for instance wearing of masks, and social distancing and so sometimes unless we continuously talk about them before it can sink well and effect changes in Ghanaians”.

He added that the Executive Instrument (EI) has been introduced to enforce the compliance of the safety protocols as knowledge alone is not enough to change people’s behaviour, but reiterated that it will take the collective effort every Ghanaian to make the compliance achievable.

Another challenge highlighted by Dr Aboagye has to do with stigmatization as many people with the COVID-19 do not report on time due to stigma; thus, he implored Ghanaians to visit the nearest health facilities if they notice signs and symptoms of the virus.

He alluded to the fact that majority of the COVID-19 patients who reported on time, in spite of their cases moving from moderate to critical conditions survived and recovered; emphasizing that those who were rushed to the centres died within 48 hours due to late reporting.