Launch of the COVID-19 community awareness campaign in Erbil on 7 November 2020 Erbil, Iraq, 8 November 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO), in partnership with the Ministry of Health of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, launched a COVID-19 prevention and awareness-raising campaign yesterday in an attempt to halt the recent surge in cases in Erbil and Duhok.
The campaign, the fifth in Iraq, targets a community of approximately 4 million people in Erbil and Duhok with prevention and infection control messages and highlights the importance of wearing masks, following proper hand hygiene and maintaining physical distancing among individuals in all settings.
“The community has to be aware of its responsibility and capability in containing the spread of the virus and controlling the level of infection in their towns and cities to protect their families and loved ones,” said Dr Adham Ismail, WHO Representative in Iraq.
“WHO and local health authorities are now more concerned than ever before as the recent resurgence of the virus worldwide requires decisive action in raising community awareness and educating people on changing certain behavioural practices that negatively impact their health and expose them to infection,” Dr Ismail added.
The campaign will start a week of activities in the Erbil governorate and proceed to Duhok for another week of activities. Over 20 carefully selected sites, including refugee and internally displaced person camps in both governorates, will be covered.
Preparations begin for the community awareness campaign in the Kurdistan region. Photo: Mr Abdulla Adeeb.WHO/Iraq More than 150 volunteers have been trained and are being mobilized to deliver supplies, such as masks, and educational items, including flyers, banners, posters and other visual materials displaying information on preventive measures in the home and in hospital and to dispel common myths related to the virus.
Mobile booths will be stationed in public places and mobile medical clinics will tour markets and heavily populated areas to ensure that target populations are reached and WHO educational videos will also be shown to reinforce key messages.
The World Health Organization in Iraq would like to extend its gratitude to donors for their contributions which have supported the Organization to implement a broad range of awareness activities in the majority of governorates in Iraq. This campaign, in particular, has been implemented with support from the people and Government of Germany.
For more information, please contact:
Ajyal Sultany
WHO Communications Officer
+964 7740 892 878
Mohamed Lashkri
WHO Communication Officer
+964 7740 892 797
Pauline Ajello
WHO Communications Officer
+964 7729 877 288
Related links
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23 August 2020
WHO concludes COVID-19 awareness-raising campaign in the south
19 August 2020
WHO and Ministry of Health launch second phase of COVID-19 awareness-raising campaign
10 August 2020
