COVID – 19: Govt Alone Can’t Fight The Pandemic – World Vision National Director

The World Vision Ghana (WVG) National Director, Dickens Thunde has appealed to all Ghanaians to join forces together with the government to help in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which has hit the world in recent times.

He indicated that we all should take the responsibility of working collectively as a country and make sure we win the war against the pandemic during a media engagement at their office located at North Industrial Area, North Kaneshie on May 6, 2020.

Dickens Thunde posited that the situation we are facing now is not just a health crisis but one which has hit the total fabric of the society which is ailing the economy and our social interactions as well. Thus, we all need to do much more in our efforts coupled with prayers to help combat the pandemic.

He added that we have to continue to pray that the crisis should come to a halt and we all should do the right things as the government has been telling us and this is not the time to relax. Ghanaians need to know that even though the President has lifted the Partial Lockdown, that doesn’t mean that the threat is gone.

“The virus is still there and as we are all aware that the number of cases is rising, it means that we still need to be vigilant and make sure that we adhere to all the protocols to ensure COVID – 19 becomes a thing of the past,” he said.

The West African Regional Leader, Carla Denizard who was also present noted that as it is not possible for the government to fight the pandemic alone, they are mobilizing resources globally through the network of partnership they have as well as using funds they have in all of their national offices to support the fight. And in this situation, they are pulling about 20 percent of their current national office budget in the Region and targeting it to help the most vulnerable.

She made a call that we shouldn’t forget the most vulnerable especially the children in the wake of the pandemic who are not able to feed and sustain themselves and that is really the focus of their response.

In terms of sensitization of the general public on the reality of COVID – 19, she stressed that “what we need to do is to promote and sensitize in our local languages, use demonstrations and when people go for routine check - ups, there is the need to have a broad based education on the situation we find ourselves in now.”

As part of World Vision Ghana’s effort in the fight against COVID – 19, its leadership in line with the World Vision Global response plan equally declared a response in Ghana on February 28, 2020 by putting in place a team to manage the crisis as they have revised their original response budget from over two million US dollars to over four million US dollars.

The WVG has since been supporting the Ghana Health Service with Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) and IEC materials worth over GH₵200,000.00 and the Ministry of Health and Christian Health Association who are also supported with PPEs worth over GH₵60,000.00 and GH₵70,000.00 respectively.

When it comes to the district and community levels too, WVG is working in 24 districts in 14 out of the 16 regions; where the staff in those Programming areas are continuing to educate and sensitize communities on COVID-19 through IEC materials, radio messages, use of mobile vans, and training of community volunteers, among the rest.

The World Vision on May 5, 2020 warned that unless the international community responds immediately and prioritizes the world’s most vulnerable in the fight against COVID-19, huge progress that has been made to save lives and reduce poverty over the past 30 years will be reversed. Children will bear the brunt of this and child mortality rates, which have more than halved since 1990, could now start to increase again.

In this case, the international child focused aid agency is launching a US$350m response that focuses on supporting the world’s most vulnerable combat the impacts of COVID-19. The ambitious response plan will be executed in over 70 countries where 37,000 staff, 400,000 faith leaders and 220,000 community health workers will be mobilised to support prevention and response initiatives.