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Tamale, Ghana – The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children in Ghana could be catastrophic ifample care and attention are not paid to them.
Mrs Florence Ayisi Quartey, NationalDirector of the Department of Children made the assertion at a two-day workshopon COVID-19 and Child Protection for traditional rulers and religious leaders inTamale.
The participants were drawn from the Northern, North East, and Savannah Regions and it was organized by the Department of Children under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in partnership with Unicef, the Department of Community Development and Obaapa Foundation through the Ghanaians Against Child Abuse (GACA) campaign initiative.
Addressing the participants, Mrs. Quartey lamented over the little attention paid to childrenin tackling challenges posed by the deadly COVID 19 urging all stakeholders inthe fight including, government and health actors, traditional rulers andreligious leaders among others to pay special attention to children more importantlybecause they fall under the category of the most vulnerable.
According to her mostchildren are not in school due to the disease and they need the utmost protection ofnot just their parents or benefactors but the entire community in order to staysafe of COVID 19. She stated that it is the reason her department continues toengage all stakeholders in this direction.
Taking the participants through Children’s Rights and Protection, Abena Aprekua Badu-Aboagye,Principal Programme Officer at the Department of Children drew the attention ofthe participants to the pertinence of the extended family system especially inthe current era of COVID 19 pandemic. She noted that it is very useful for the upbringing of the child and serves as a social protection network against violenceand exploitation of the child while appealing to the traditional rulers andreligious leaders to revisit it in discharging duties in their respectivejurisdictions.
Madam Abena stated that traditional rulers and religious leaders command a lot ofinfluence in their localities and consequences of reneging their responsibilities could lead to a myriad of social vices including teenage pregnancy and childparenting among others. She, therefore, appealed to the participants to work with various relevant agencies to ensure the rights of the child are held paramount. Ghanahas by June 25, 2020, recorded 15,013 COVID-19 cases with 11,078 recovered and95 deaths.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Osman Dawda
