How UN, EU support Kaduna govt to check COVID-19

From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

The Powerful HANDS campaign was launched in May 2021 to increase the number of Nigerians who believe in and practise COVID-19 preventive behaviours, especially as deadlier variants of the coronavirus emerges.

Consultant, HANDS Campaign team in Kaduna State, Jilmari Bishara, said the community mobilization aspect of the campaign is currently being carried out in seven hotspot locations which are Rivers, Oyo, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Plateau and the FCT.

“We have been supporting the HANDS campaign in Kaduna through the Ministry of Health with the help of the NCDC coordinated State Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) pillar, being the leader in the state. We have been collaborating with so many people and organisations in Kaduna because we must follow through the right channels which have been very helpful in the campaign.

“Working with traditional and religious leaders is imperative because they live in the community and people believe and listen to them. This has helped in so many ways to overcome this challenge as we move into communities to understand that the power to overcome COVID-19 is in our hands”, she noted.

To these partners, there is a need to sustain the gains already made in the nation’s response to COVID-19 by way of ensuring that preventive behaviours are practised so that numbers do not increase with the looming threat of another wave perceived to be deadlier.

Though locals are saying they would prefer compliance with the non-pharmaceutical protocols to another lockdown, there is the need to live by their promises which are the concern of the government and supporting parents within and outside the country.

The HANDS acronym, which stands for H – Have your hands washed or sanitized frequently, A – Always cough or sneeze into your elbow, N – No going out without a face mask, D – Distance of at least two arm’s length should be maintained and S – Stay indoors and self-isolate if you feel sick, is a prompt reminder of known reality.

When the Kaduna team stormed Bakin Dogo, the largest foodstuff market in Kaduna at the weekend, traders and buyers spoke to claim they are committed to adhering to the application of a non-pharmaceutical approach, using the avenue to call on the federal and Kaduna State governments not to consider lockdown henceforth.

For instance, Chairman, Onion Sellers Cooperative Society limited, Bakin Dogo food market, Kaduna State, Idris Abubakar told this correspondent how he has been involved in enlightenment campaign within the market on the prevention of COVID-19 particularly in the use of face masks and hand washing.

“I have not been directly affected by the virus but with what we have been hearing, I knew that some people have died. So, we are doing all we can to help reduce the infection among us here”, he said.

Another trader in the market, Deyebu Shuaibu, who was wearing a face mask at the time of this engagement with him said, “I am very conscious about my relationship with customers.

“I sell in bags so, many customers come around to buy from within and outside Kaduna. So, this campaign coming again to us here is timely as it reminds us not to relax in wearing our face masks and washing our hands constantly.

“COVID-19 is true but some people are not serious about it. So, people should comply with the NCDC protocol to reduce the number of affected persons. We don’t want lockdown again”, he said.

A staff of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) Kaduna State Directorate, Safiya Abbas, who was part of the team noted that “so far so good, people are happy and willing to abide by the regulation”.

To her, “we are having a challenge whereby people have forgotten to be wearing their face mask and hand washing. We are calling on the government to enforce the use of face masks as a measure to reduce the spread of the virus”.

Giving credence to earlier respondents, Social Mobiliser Assistant working with the HANDS campaign team in Kaduna South local government, Philip Maman said, his team employed three strategies to get the message across to the target populace.

“We engage with community people using three strategies. The first is a door-to-door campaign, the market storm where we storm a particular market talking to sellers and buyers alike on the need for protection while we share experiences. Then we have been going to primary schools using captain Bubble who is a superhero in the cartoon world.

“The surprising thing is that these children who are between age 6-10 are taking the campaign back home. We knew about this when we get to the houses and the parents told us their children had already brought the campaign to them”.

Elsewhere, Director of Programmes at International Centre for Interfaith Peace and Harmony (ICIPH), and HANDS Ambassador, in Kaduna State, Ezekiel Abdullahi Babagariyo agreed, “washing of hands, covering our faces etc which help us to avoid COVID-19 cannot be overemphasised”.

He also agreed that the lockdown did not help that much in Nigeria and the world over because the economy and the means of getting food were tied down.

“Nigeria is a very religious country. Each person you see on the street is conscious of his or her religion. He respects his Pastor, Imam or Babalawo. So, since our centre is all about religious dialogue where we bring religious leaders to the table for coexistence, why don’t we use that platform to reach out to their followers on their responsibility in taming this global pandemic.

“These HANDS people came to our church and enlightened our children in the Sunday School class. My third child who was in that class made it compulsory for all of us in the house to wash our hands before devotion.

“The children will always remind us to do the right thing about this pandemic. So, bringing this campaign to churches and mosques with the support of pastors and imams will go a long way in the campaign on mitigating the global pandemic”, he submitted.

A traditional father, Sarkin Barnawa, Mohamed Habibu Zubairu believed that, as a community leader, it is his responsibility to discharge all important campaigns especially if they have a direct impact on the life of his people.

Usually, he said, the problem lies where the proper channels are not followed, but, “HANDS project came to us through advocacy and we are aware and offered suggestions on how the people can be reached. The volunteers are from the communities so it makes it easy for people to listen to them when they are one of their own among the team.

“We have been advising people on the COVID-19 protocol. I have taken the two doses of the vaccine to debunk the myths and rumours around it”, the traditional father said.

As it stands, experts and the authorities who know the behaviour of the Delta variant are afraid, regretting that many Nigerians lowered their guards soon after the first and second COVID-19 waves were over – with far less than 70 percent populace yet to be vaccinated.

With further anxiety over the new Delta variants following fears that a great number of Nigerians are yet to be vaccinated after various state governments exhausted their last supplies of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, the cheapest and safest means to comply with a non-pharmaceutical protocol which is the focus of the powerful HANDS campaign in Kaduna selected local government areas.

Photos: Sarkin Barnawa, Mohammed Zubairu

HANDS Team in Bakin Dogo market and

Director ICIPH, Ezekiel Babagariyo