#COVID19 – “Staying alive, Staying inside”

March 29, 2020

Excellent return on investment during #COVID19 pandemic – Humanity over financial return

April 2, 2020

#Covid19 Truthful communication

April 1, 2020

World Health Communication Associates (WHCA) & INSPIRIT Creatives UG NGO,
MediaWise and MediaFocusUK

Strengthening connections
while keeping distance

News You Can Use

We are all vulnerable to this virus. This is a unique time for our communities all over the world as we work to combat this massive global threat. This blog aims to collect and share your stories and reflections that can help others to cope, thrive and build resilience…

Our communities are at different stages of response in different parts of the world. We can learn a lot from each other. Building on World Health Organization and other evidence-based guidance, this blog will gather and disseminate stories that inform, inspire and hopefully strengthen social connectiveness while we all practice physical distancing.

We invite you to contribute. At present we are looking for stories in the following areas:

May the force be with all of us.

Sabrina, Mike, Steve, Tuuli and Franklin for the Connecting Communities team

BLOG: https://www.inspiritcreatives.com/coronavirus-connecting-communities
Email: cccov19@gmail.com
See: https://www.whcaonline.org | https://www.inspiritcreatives.com/humanity
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12385075/ | Twitter: @connecting_comm
Newsletter: https://www.cccovid19.org

Disclaimer – We try to include stories that respect World Health Organisation COVID19 guidance. Links take you to full published stories. Our Connecting Communities team screens and selects stories but can not guarantee accuracy of reporting and mentions of any products does not indicate endorsement.

Isolation tips – what are you doing to make this a healthier, less stressful and more positive time?

Mental Health in time of Corona
https://www.everyoneok.be/

Bringing families together https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/2498895353548990/

Street art from your living room 🎨

Hygiene behavior helpers– what are you doing to keep you and your family safe from Corona infection?

Coronavirus misinformation shapes behaviour of Ghanaians about the disease (Maxwell Awumah , Ghana)

Despite it being a public health problem, the auxiliary effect of this pandemic cuts across all facets of life in terms of health, economics, education, just to mention a few.

The scare of this pandemic keeps increasing each day as the incidence of the disease keeps increasing across the globe.

With the disease currently in 190 countries despite the innovative effort by governments, international organizations and stakeholders, the numbers keep swelling with more than 756,000/36,000 confirmed cases/death recorded within a short time.

With no cure at the moment to this pandemic, preventive measures stand as the only way to decrease the spread of the disease.

Effective handwashing, use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, avoiding direct contacts, sneezing and coughing cautiously, staying physically active, among other preventive measures have been suggested by public health professionals to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Hence the need for the public to be well informed about Covid-19.

Information and knowledge sharing are easily done in this modern era than years past and it will still get better and easier with the passage of time.

However, the advent of social media and other forms of information sharing without verification of its authenticity has also brought about the throwing of junk and wrong information to the general public.

The World Health Organization warns the world about trending myths wrongfully propagated by people through diverse means. This misinformation can mislead people thereby increasing their risk to the spread of the disease.

A recent survey conducted by Leadccoach Consult, led by Emmanuel Kofi Bondah, Lead Researcher of Leadccoach Consult and a Public health researcher at Ghana’s Ensign College of Public Health, revealed interesting findings with regards to how Ghanaians scored when tested on these myths.

With the majority (74%) of Ghanaians believing they know “a lot” and a few saying they know “some or only a little” about Covid-19, the average score of Ghanaians who took the test on Covid-19 myths was 50%. Thus on average, Ghanaians believe in about half of the misinformation thrown out there to them.

Social media (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and radio/TV were the widely stated sources of information on Covid-19 among 88% and 59% of Ghanaians. Key myths that were wrongly believed by participants included the following:

Spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body can kill the new coronavirus (37.5%)
Eating garlic helps prevent infection with the new coronavirus (36%)
Taking a hot bath can prevent the new coronavirus disease (33.4%)
COVID-19 virus cannot be transmitted in areas with hot and humid climates (30%)
Regularly rinsing your nose with salt water help prevent infection with the new coronavirus (30%)
Antibiotics are effective in preventing and treating the new coronavirus (23%)
Hand dryers are effective in killing the new coronavirus (27%).

The survey was completed by mainly males (53%), 18-30 years (76%), mostly with tertiary level education (88%) and currently living in Greater Accra (36%), Ashanti (19%), Central (14%) and all other regions (31%) of Ghana. It is recommended that Ghanaians seek relevant information from credible authorities and that public health stakeholders address some of these misconceptions that are widely spread among Ghanaians.

Community actions – what are you and your neighbours doing to help each other?

True Communication for covid 19 is the best vaccine of today
(Xhemal Mato, Tirana, Albania

Dear Connecting Communities,
Congratulations on the beautiful and valuable work to increase communication in the Pandemic situation goes to Covid 19.
Professional and genuine communication at this time is just as important as the long-awaited vaccine against the virus that is invading today’s world.
Our association “Ekolevizja, Ecomovement, Group”, has greatly appreciated the information material you have sent and we have hired a person to manage and share all the information on our social media and web sites. It has been discussed with Albanian public television that an Information Department journalist is part of the contacts and information.
The first problem in the media is the need to translate and synthesize information. Synthesizing them is also a problem for social media where they compete with virally” memes, humour, pictures, and negative sensations As in all of Albania I am forced to stay home but this has added much more to virtual communication”

Working with Roma communities in Slovakia ( Ivan Solovic , Vysne Hagy, Slovakia)

“Greetings from Slovakia. We all are working with our vulnerable group of population – Roma population, in addition to a lot of fieldwork, we work if you know the information campaign we launch through Facebook Healthy Regions but also through
New website KoronaTeMerel where we put videos in Slovak, Hungarian and of course mainly Roma language
https://koronatemerel.sk/ COVID translation – this is difficult to translate from Romani, but in settlements this just works we all post it under the heading – ‘Let’s Act Responsibly’

Novinka je korona song https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/2498895353548990/
Ako nosiť ochranné rúško: https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/238910914173421/
Alebo koordinátor aby ľudia počúvali čo im asistent hovorí a že situácia je vážna a treba všetko https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/238910914173421/

Other community links-
dodržiavať https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/1394276817447532/
https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/222403275625368/
umývanie rúk – lavór https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/238886213810149/
https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/videos/318486525779594/
A množstvo ďalších je na https://www.facebook.com/zdraveregiony.eu/
Toto je najnovšie video s tebou: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15ClQC9z016gA-h9qVjxeLUPft3fPTImG/view?usp=sharing

Citizen artists working for social change – (Shelter Music Boston, USA) https://www.sheltermusicboston.org/
What do musicians do when the bottom falls out? We play music! We play when we are anxious, sad, upset, and worried. Then we feel a bit better, for a while. Shelter Music Boston musicians hope you will feel a bit better as well upon enjoying these short clips made in our musicians’ homes in recent days.

Francine Trester plays part of Brahms Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 78, first movement, unaccompanied and with a bit of a revised ending. In her words, “I am practicing for a concert I’m doing in August with pianist Lois Shapiro; proceeds from this concert will go to Birthday Wishes, which creates birthday parties for homeless children.” (1 min.)

Working remotely – how are you making new work realities productive?

Work revolution in sight

https://www.lepoint.fr/economie/et-si-l-on-continuait-a-teletravailler-27-03-2020-2369000_28.php

Virtual classrooms – how are you learning and training from home?

Tips on using platforms like Google- classroom

https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-11-tips-using-google-classroom

Public Policies – what policies are easing your burden?

Interim guidance for refugee and migrant health in relation to COVID-19 in the WHO European Region

(http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-technical-guidance/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-outbreak-technical-guidance-europe/interim-guidance-for-refugee-and-migrant-health-in-relation-to-covid-19-in-the-who-european-region-2020?utm_source=WHO%2FEurope+mailing+list&utm_campaign=a69d9130b9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_11_15_10_48_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_60241f4736-a69d9130b9-110553561)

Interim Guidance on Scaling-up COVID-19 Outbreak in Readiness and Response Operations in Camps and Camp-like Settings

(http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/news/news/2020/3/measures-against-covid-19-need-to-include-refugees-and-migrants?utm_source=WHO%2FEurope+mailing+list&utm_campaign=a69d9130b9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_11_15_10_48_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_60241f4736-a69d9130b9-110553561)

Maintaining essential services – what is being done to keep food, mail, delivery, water, gas, telephone, internet, sanitation function well in your community?

Local groups creating service maps and guiodance ( Teign, UK)
https://teigncovid19.co.uk/support/

Health Care – how are you as health worker managing, what are you doing to protect yourself and others, what innovations seem promising?

`10,000 liters of hydroalcoholic solution per day`: in Paris, a pharmacy sets up a laboratory in the street to help stock pharmacies running low

A pharmacy in the 6th arrondissement has installed an open-air laboratory to manufacture hydroalcoholic products. An initiative authorized by the authorities, which allows many professionals to restock their pharmacies and avoid shortages in the face of the coronavirus epidemic. 30th Mar 2020 – France3-Regions