Phase Two (II) of a project dubbed: Covid-19 Intervention, Awareness and Project (CAIO II) has been launched at the Red Clay, Janna near Tamale in the Northern Region.
The project being executed by a NGO; Health, Education, Research and Policy (HERPol-Africa), with funding from the MasterCard Foundation, is in response to the covid-19 pandemic by creating awareness and education on the various alongside providing support to vulnerable communities in order to build resilience.
Speaking at the launch of the CAIO II project which was followed with a community durbar, the Executive Director of Health, Education, Research and Policy (HERPol-Africa), Dr. Osman Dufailu said phased II of the CAIO project is targeting 1000 more people in 36 communities in the Tamale and Sanarigu periurban areas.
Under the phase One, HERPOL Africa reached out to 30 vulnerable communities in in Northern Region by collecting relevant data, imparted attitudinal and behavioral change approaches and also gave empowerment and skills training in nose masks and liquid soap productions thus enabling the communities, socio-economically.
Dr. Dufailu, who is also a lecturer at the University for Development Studies (UDS), explained that the NGO’s intervention on the ground had transitioned from just awareness creation and facial mask production adding that under Phase II, identified communities will be provided with potable water which is very essential in the Covid 19 fight.
The Executive Director of HERPOL-Africa emphasized the need for governments across the continent to take the research component of the Covid-19 pandemic seriously, in order to find sustainable homemade solutions.
“Policy makers should begin to prioritize research and not rely on wholesale approaches that may have worked elsewhere and that includes search for vaccines for Covid-19. It is high time we invested in research. Why is the testing not free so that everyone can know their status?” Dr. Dufailu queried.
According to the Executive Director of HERPoL-Africa, Policy makers somewhat have contributed to the misconceptions on the Covid virus by not putting out relevant data such as the side effects or otherwise of the vaccines which may help demystify the myths in the public domain.
“When all these data are available on government’s website, it would built trust hence, policy makers therefore need to take data and research to another level in closing the information and poverty gaps which have left most rural communities behind,” he stated.
HERPOL-Africa is an NGO established in 2018 to educate, empower an inspire communities through providing research based solutions to promote development.
Among others the NGO has been involved in Dyslexia awareness in schools in the Tamale metropolis alongside promoting maternal, mental health and sexual and adolescent reproductive health.
Story by: Nelson Adanuti | www.diamondfmonline.com
