COVID-19: Local Government Ministry Educates Market Women

As part of measures to avoid the spreading of coronavirus in Ghana which has been described as pandemic by the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has launched a sensitization programme in markets across the country.

This according to the sector Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, is in line with a directive by the President to collaborate with metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to ensure personal hygiene and good sanitation practices in markets.

“We have instructed district assemblies to set up committees, as well as establish sensitisation teams to educate the people. Some districts have started working at the markets by providing certain facilities to ensure proper sanitation practices,” she said at the launch in Accra.

According to her, the Ministry is targeting 1,000 markets and that a committee would be established to monitor and evaluate the exercise.

“We will meet them in groups, but will ensure that at every meeting, there are not more than 25 people,” she indicated. 

Education

Market queens from Ashaiman, Tema-West, Tema Metro, Kpone-Katamanso among other places were educated on proper and effective hand washing.

The participating market queens have been tasked to also educate the traders in their markets to observe good and proper hand washing.

Hajia Alima Mahama said to control the deadly disease, proper hand washing must be practiced in addition to other good personal hygiene and environmental cleanliness.

She indicated that as part of government’s preventive measures, the market queens were to receive veronica buckets, liquid soap, tissues and hand sanitizer to be positioned at vantage places in the market for the use of traders and the public.

She encouraged the public to religiously observe the acceptable health measures in COVID-19 prevention, reminding them to cover mouth with tissue when sneezing and coughing and discard immediately into a bin, adding that even though our culture embraced togetherness, people must endeavor to keep away from each other at least two meters apart and avoid handshaking and hugging.

The Minister also urged all and sundry to frequently wash their hands with soap under running water in addition to drinking warm water laced with lemon and ginger in the mornings to build the immune system adding that cold foods should be minimized.

Equipment Distribution To Market Women

In each of the 1,000 markets, they will be provided with 10 Veronica buckets, 10 Jumbo tissue rolls, a carton of liquid soap consisting of 24 bottles, four dustbins, 50 nose masks, and two cartons of hand sanitizers. The market places she added will also undergo fumigation.

In addition, each district will be provided with 100 Veronica buckets and other sanitary items.

However, bigger markets like Agbogbloshie, Makola and Kantamanto would get double the number proposed. Hajia Alima Mahama said the Ministry procured the equipment with funds from the District Assembly Common Fund.

“Cynthia Morrison is going to Madina Market; Barbara to markets within Osu Klottey; Ursula Owusu to the Kaneshie Market; Mavis Hawa Koomson to Tema; and from Monday, each of us will handle the programme in a Region,” she explained.

Cases in Ghana

Ghana has already recorded 21 cases of COVID-19, with one death recorded on Saturday, March 21, 2020, involving a 61-year old Lebanese resident in Ghana.

The latest novel coronavirus (COVID-19) updates from the Ghana Health Service suggest that cases of community spread may have been detected.

One of the cases involves a 34-year-old woman who was a “contact of a confirmed case at her place of work,” according to the Ghana Health Service.