Mobile operators in Ghana have joined forces to support a campaign to fight the deadly Ebola virus.
The Africa-wide campaign dubbed ?United Against Ebola? will enable the operators to raise funds from customers sand channel them to supports efforts against the disease.
The initiative, operating under the hash tag ?#AfricaAgainstEbola?, will use an SMS dedicated platform to raise funds for the deployment of African health workers to affected countries.Leading mobile network operators (MNOs) in Ghana, namely Airtel, MTN, Tigo & Vodafone are proudly joining the fight against Ebola under the auspices of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications in partnership with the AU.
In a press release, ?the SMS fundraising campaign will use the short code 7979 with local adaptations where technology requires. Customers will be asked to text ?Stop Ebola? to this code in order to donate in their respective countries.?
According to the press release, the campaign which will be launched on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 in Accra ?will run between now and the end of February 2015.?
Ebola has claimed over 7,000 lives across some parts of West Africa since it was first reported in Guinea in December 2013.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), this is the largest outbreak on the continent, affecting mostly Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
The ?United Against Ebola Campaign, Ghana Chapter? has been launched in Accra to mobilise financial and material support to assist Ebola victims in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The objective of the campaign is to educate Ghanaians on how to protect themselves and their families against the Ebola virus.
Send-West Africa, Trades Union Congress and the Civic Forum Initiative launched the campaign which is intended to be citizen driven, expressing solidarity to the people of the three West African countries.
The Coalition of United Africa Against Ebola, is made up of groups and institutions including National Charismatic Council, Office of the Chief Imam, Ahmadiyya Mission, Send Africa, IDEG, Citizen Forum, among others, have come together to launch the initiative aimed to demystify the Ebola viral disease which has been scaring many people in the world.
Mr Siapha Kamara, Chief Executive Officer of Send-West Africa, said as part of the Campaign, massive education would be embarked upon to educate the people that Ebola is preventable and when people observe cleanliness and report to health centres on time upon suspicion of the disease, they could help protect themselves while infected persons could also survive.
He said Ebola has been known to be infecting mainly poor people in mostly poor communities in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, while many people dying from the disease are poor, living in overcrowded communities.
?Ebola is about the poor living in Africa that is why we need to take the education among the poor and tell them that Ebola is viral and can be transmitted easily but we can prevent it,? Mr Kamara said.
He said the campaign would target ordinary citizens and corporate bodies who would be urged to give out anything they could offer which would be sent or shipped to the three countries to support mainly orphans, widows and other victims of Ebola.
Apostle Samuel Yaw Antwi, General Secretary of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, who chaired the launch of the Campaign, expressed concern about the devastating effect of Ebola which is ?wrecking havoc to families and societies?.
?We all should not joke with the disease but we have to join in and find solution and bring hope to the victims. We as religious people have to help in looking after the orphans and widows as our faith proclaims,? Apostle Antwi said.
Nii Afotey Botwe I, Divisional Chief of Otinor Nungua in Accra, lauded the Campaign and asked that traditional rulers should be brought on board to help in educating the people on the disease.
By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana
