A former Health Minister, Alex Segbefia has asked the government to intensify public education on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) especially now that it has been confirmed in Ghana.
The Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu announced on Thursday, March 12 that two cases of the virus have been confirmed in the country.
Even though the disease started in December 2019 and has since been declared as a global pandemic, it seems sensitization of Ghanaians have been low.
Mr. Segbefia, on Citi TV‘s current affairs show, The Big Issue on Saturday, complained about the low education and asked the government to hit the ground running.
“For me, the most important aspect which I think the government has been slow to deal with is public education. Because when we talk about the need for people to know what to do after they’ve been in contact or what they’re supposed to be doing generally, you’ll have a situation where if you haven’t yet put into the public domain jingles and adverts in our local dialects, you have missed possibly 60% of the population.”
He continued, “So technically, there is a huge raft of Ghanaians who don’t even know what is happening. Because obviously, there is no education ongoing and that is an area that we are too slow in dealing with. There is a need for public education. The government actually has to step up its game in educating us.”
Background
In an emergency press briefing by the Information Ministry on Thursday night, March 12, 2020, the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu announced that Ghana had confirmed two cases of the novel coronavirus.
The two cases according to the Minister, tested positive after laboratory tests from the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research.
The cases were reported as ‘imported cases’ as both individuals returned to Ghana from Norway and Turkey.
The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, a day after the reports of the first cases confirmed that the two patients who tested positive for coronavirus in Ghana include a Ghanaian.
He said the patients arrived in Ghana about a week ago from Turkey and Norway.
“One of the two people who tested positive for coronavirus came from Norway, the other came from Turkey. One is a foreigner, the other is a Ghanaian based abroad who returned to the country,” he said.
GHS educates public
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) on their part to sensitize the public has released information on safety measures Ghanaians can practice to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The information was recorded in five different languages.
The aim of the exercise, according to GHS, is to reach all Ghanaians of different dialects.