COVID-19 IN GHANA: THE YOUTH RISING TO MEET THE CHALLENGE

COVID-19 IN GHANA: THE YOUTH RISING TO MEET THE CHALLENGE

Coronavirus, as popularly known as COVID-19, is an infectious disease caused by the virus. The virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected per coughs or sneezes. Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease (CD), diabetes, chronic respiratory disease (CRD) and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. (source: WHO)

According to Dora Awuah a psychologist in Ghana, she said that Ghana discovered their first two cases of COVID-19 on March 13, 2020. She added that many hoped that there would be no increase in the number of cases since the confirmed cases were imported from Turkey and Norway. However, the number kept increasing and the president of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Akuffo-Addo, announced a ban on social gatherings and closure of all educational institutions and Churches. As at now, the number has increased to 5638 with 28 death.

Due to the COVID-19, our health care sector, economic and social factors have been affected unprecedented. we have divided the article into 3 main sections.

• How are the youth people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

• What roles are the young partaking in meeting this challenge?

• How can they strengthen communication tools?

Conclusion.

HOW ARE THE YOUTH AFFECTED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

We have all been thrust into the new environment. Both young and old have lost their livelihoods at an unprecedented rate. This pandemic crisis is affecting everyone and everything in Ghana. Since the Government of Ghana started the partial lock-down measures both self-employed and government sectors have reported a rapid reduction in their income. This lock-down has caused an increase in the price of most items like food and PPE (personal protective equipment). A lot of people have lost their job. The impact of COVID-19 in Ghana is huge in the sense that it’s leading to youth underemployment, sexual and gender-based violence, job losses, minimal access to health care, minimal access to education service, erosion of fair and decent work. The cost of clean water, food, soap and some basic needs are inaccessible to many youths in Ghana. These challenges are intersectional and have led to anxiety, depression and frustration among the youth.

WHAT ROLES ARE THE YOUNG PARTAKING IN MEETING THIS CHALLENGE?

Necessity is the mother of invention. Critical situations usually force innovation. Since the COVID-19 has affected a lot of the labour force that’s the youth then there is the need for the youth to respond to this crisis as soon as possible to rebuild powerful communities. As the COVID-19 pandemic increases, innovations to fight it has gone up.

SENSOR SOLAR-POWERED HAND-WASHING BASIN: Richard Kwarteng and Jude Osei built sensor solar-powered hand-washing basin to encourage personal hygiene and to amid COVID-19. With Richard solar-powered hand-washing basin in less than 25 seconds, the person gets his hand washed. You can watch the video via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsdO4bCz6YI

REAL-TIME TRACKER: Darlington Ahiale Akogo with his team of 20 persons has built a comprehensive real-time tracker of COVID-19 cases across Africa. This will provide policymakers and relevant parties with real-time information to track the spread of the virus. This will help them plan effective intervention like medical supply distribution.

MOBILE HAND WASHER: Ghanaian taxi Driver invent mobile hand washer to ensure his passenger wash their hand before and after reaching their destination. According to him, he connected the pipe hole of his invention to the wiper channel at the rear screen of his vehicle such that when switched on, water flows through it, and passengers can wash their hands before boarding and after alighting. Watch the video via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5fdtwj-_4c

VERONICA BUCKET: Veronica Bekoe invented to help the people get clean running water to wash their hands. With this, kids love to wash their hands regularly. This serves as a simple way to encourage the citizen to proper hand-washing using flowing water .

DIGITAL MEDIA PLATFORM: Some youth are also using the social media platform in creating awareness so that people won’t get misinformation concerning COVID-19. This is because misinformation can cause chaos and increase the death rate. Some of them have created a lot of online platforms and digital media to share correct information to dispel common myths.

VOLUNTEERING JOB: Some volunteers were also providing mask and other sanitizers to old and young to prevent themselves from contracting the virus. They help in taking the temperature of the citizen and to educate them on how to stay healthy and safe.

HOW CAN THEY STRENGTHEN COMMUNICATION TOOL?

They can strengthen communication tools between community and institution level by developing and implementing approaches and responses that will provide accurate information, at the right time and when they need it the most. The government institutions and organization should work hand in hand to create awareness alerts to monitor the situation.

They should mobilize communication campaigns to provide a sense of ownership which would lead to long-term transformation. They should organize an online workshop where they will translate it in various local dialect for most of the citizen to understand.

The government should work with the stakeholders to create “innovative in time” that’s a special app that will inform people exactly where they are.

Lastly, there should be an online communication group among the citizen in their various community to help educate them about the COVID-19. Since kids like cartoons, the government should communicate with the kids through cartoons.

In conclusion, we should continue to observe the social distancing, regular hand washing and stay at home as much as you can. We should use clear, swift and relatable communication to reduce confusion and misinformation. We need to understand people’s perception of risk in an outbreak context to not assess how susceptible they think but they are of getting the diseases. That’s some think the risk is greater for others than for themselves. We should let the people understand that the likelihood of transmitting the virus to others is high and there’s a high risk of putting themselves and others at risk.

Author: FREDERICK ABANKWA (PhD)