The Cameroon Red Cross (CRC) has joined to create awareness in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. With more than 1,000 volunteers deployed in different regions in the country, they have been able to sensitise the public on how to check the spread of the disease by washing their hands under running water with soap.

The communication officer of CRC, Olinga Hycinthe, noted that this awareness was made possible with the financial support of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the technical backing of the Ministry of Public Health. He added that UNICEF has so far offered to CRC for the campaign almost 20,000 kegs and 11,000 buckets, all fitted with taps; 14,400 cartons of average size soap (about 700,000 pieces of soap) and 396 cartons of detergent (almost 500 cans of detergent). 100 1,000-litre water tanks fitted with taps, which have been installed in Yaounde and Douala to enable members of the public to regularly wash their hands, were also provided by UNICEF. However, the CRC reached an agreement with Camwater to regularly refill the tanks to ensure constant water supply.

Hycinthe noted that CRC will extend its Covid-19 awareness campaign to prisons and orphanages where handwashing kits, soap, and drums for storing water will also be provided.

It was also noted that volunteers have administered 350,000 questionnaires on Covid-19 in the country and the feedback is used in developing new, adapted sensitisation messages. The leader of the team of CRC volunteers and First Aid workers deployed adjacent the Yaounde Central Post Office, Ebana Rose, stated that some people have expressed the wish that the handwashing kits remain even after the Covid-19 pandemic comes to an end.

Source: Cameroon Tribune

Photo source: Prachatai