MTN Ghana has rolled out Ebola awareness campaign to help educate Ghanaians about the outbreak of the disease which killed over 1,500 people in West Africa.
Although, Ghana is free from the disease, the telecom network operator has employed effective communication strategies to spread messages on the prevention of Ebola virus disease including the use of bulk SMS messaging to get the information on the Ebola directly to members of the general public.
The message sent is one that reinforces the seriousness of the disease and the need to be health conscious, according to the Corporate Services Executive of MTN Ghana, Mrs Cynthia Lumor.
She added in a press release issued in Accra today: “Billboards with information on health safety tips have been placed at vantage points to reach out to the public. One can see such huge branded billboards at the Coca Cola roundabout on the Spintex Road and on the John Evans Atta Mills High Street”.
Internally, MTN had conducted preventive education for its own management and staff since the outbreak of the disease. A campaign was launched by the Human Resource division which provided insights into how the disease works via smses, emails and through posters in bathrooms, offices etc. Furthermore all offices have been provided with hand sanitizers, Mrs Lumor stated.
She advised: “Indeed it is worth sharing the message here as we keep fighting to prevent the spread of Ebola. Ebola is real and it kills fast. Always wash your hands with soap under running water. It protects you from Ebola & many diseases”.
The recent outbreak of the Ebola virus disease being described as the largest in history and the first in West Africa has claimed more lives in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Recent World Bank Group analysis of the Ebola epidemic finds that if the virus continues to surge in the three worst-affected countries namely Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone its economic impact could grow eight-fold, dealing a potentially catastrophic blow to the already fragile states.
However, the analysis finds that economic costs can be limited if swift national and international responses succeed in containing the epidemic and mitigating aversion behavior a fear factor resulting from people’s concerns about contagion, which is fueling the economic impact.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said: “The primary cost of this tragic outbreak is in human lives and suffering, which has already been terribly difficult to bear. But our findings make clear that the sooner we get an adequate containment response and decrease the level of fear and uncertainty, the faster we can blunt Ebolas economic impact”.
We have seen in recent days a serious scaling up on the part of international donors to contain the Ebola epidemic. Today’s report underscores the huge potential costs of the epidemic if we dont ramp up our efforts to stop it now, said Kim.
The analysis uses two alternative scenarios to estimate the medium-term impact of the epidemic to the end of calendar year 2015. A Low Ebola scenario envisions rapid containment within the three core countries, while High Ebola corresponds to the upper ranges of current epidemiological estimates.
African Eye News
