Department of Information and Communication, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has advised traditional rulers in FCT to take the advocacy for the prevention of Coronavirus Diseas (COVID-19) to the grassroots.
Mrs Stella Ojeme, Director, Information and Communication Department, FCTA, gave the advise during a sensitisation awareness campaign at the Chief Palace in Gwagealada on Thursday.
Ojeme said that the aim of the awareness was to engage the traditional rulers in propagating accurate information of the virus, stop open defecation and the prevention of Lassa Fever in their communities.
The Director, represented by the Chief Information Officer, FCTA, Mrs Leticia Wogu, said that the sensitisation was also to cascade communication on ways to prevent human-to-human transmission.
“We came together as a department to sensitise the public as part of proactive measures in preventing the spread of corona virus to our local communities.
“There are also adverse effects of rats and open defecation in the society which are very dangerous to human health.
“We have about three public health concerns in the Federal Capital Territory which the public should be concerned about.
”One of the lessons we learnt during the outbreak of Ebola virus is that, the grassroots was adequately sensitised and prepared.
”We are bringing the lesson back in this period when we are dealing with another highly contagious virus.
According to her, government is doing its best to stop coronavirus but cannot do it alone, as it requires collective responsibility of everybody.
She also cautioned residents in the area to stop open defecation for a cleaner and healthy society.
”We believe we will achieve better results in this effort if people at the grassroots are properly sensitised on how to protect their communities from other contagious diseases.
”What we are doing today is to cascade information on coronavirus, open defecation and Lasa Fever to the people in the area,” she said. (NAN)
