Government has rolled out a 21-day Covid-19 awareness campaign to educate the masses, dispel misconceptions and help people appreciate the impending vaccination for the pandemic.
The campaign, which started on February 6 and runs through to February 27 2021, is being managed by the Ministry of Civic Education and National Unity, in collaboration with ministries of Health and Information.
In an interview yesterday, Civic Education and National Unity Minister Timothy Mtambo said they are encouraging early health seeking behaviour and urging community members to adhere to Covid-19 preventive measures.
He said: “Some of the reports that the ministry is getting from the districts are discouraging. Most people are not observing preventive measures though they have information on the measures.
“I am asking chiefs, religious leaders and others to join hands with us in educating the masses. As individuals, people also need to take responsibility, mask up and keep the social distance.”
On the impending vaccination, Mtambo urged people to get the right information on the vaccine and the pandemic from authorities and health experts.
“This is not true. The vaccine is there to protect people from the coronavirus. Let me appeal to my fellow Malawians not to believe and trust everything that is hearsay. Hearsay is not a credible source of information,” he said.
Earlier, the ministry’s Principal Secretary Elizabeth Gomani Chindebvu said in a statement that they have engaged district information and health offices as well as the National Civic Education Initiative Trust to carry the messages to communities.
She urged district councils, through the existing district Covid-19 committees, to support the awareness exercise by, among others, ensuring that the deployed teams are reaching all hard-to-reach areas.
Speaking on Friday in Mzuzu after meeting the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, Paramount Chief Kyungu of Karonga and Chitipa stressed the need for all stakeholders to join forces in educating the rural masses.
Cumulatively, by Monday, Malawi had recorded 27 422 cases including 874 deaths, representing a case fatality rate of 3.2 percent. Of these cases, 1 985 are imported infections and 25 437 are locally transmitted
