Innovate to mitigate impact of COVID-19 - Samira Bawumia tells youth

The wife of the Vice-President, Mrs Samira Bawumia, has encouraged the youth to develop innovative ways to help mitigate the adverse impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the country.

She stated that as the government rolled out measures to battle the situation, the involvement of the youth had also become critical, indicating that they could help by disseminating accurate information on COVID-19, tackling myths and stigma and supporting information sharing programmes as well as national preparedness and response efforts.

Mrs Bawumia was speaking at the opening of a two-day conference to mark this year’s International Youth Day being celebrated on the theme: “Youth Engagement in Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19: The Need For Innovation and Creativity.”

Organised by the National Youth Authority (NYA) for the youth, the conference will engage participants in insightful dialogue sessions on different topical issues pertaining to youth development.

Youth employment

Mrs Bawumia noted that the issue of youth employment had become very critical in the current social, economic and political dispensation across the globe, “a situation which has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and that has created the need for the youth to strategise and adopt innovative ways of meeting the country’s growing needs.”

She indicated that the government had also put in much effort to alleviate the adverse impact of the pandemic by instituting many support programmes for businesses and individuals.

Concerns of the youth

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NYA, Mr Sylvester Mensah Tetteh, also said that while the consequences of the pandemic affected all societies, the youth were the hardest hit by the crisis.

He said the major concerns of the youth in the era of the pandemic are education, hospitality and creative arts, jobs and businesses, as well as governance and elections, explaining that they were vital components of youth development.

Mr Tetteh called for an all-inclusive youth response to tackle the pandemic and inspire young people to be at the forefront of Ghana’s mitigation recovery efforts.

“Considering that young people in Ghana form the majority of the country’s population and are the most energetic, creative and an innovative cohort of the country’s population, they should be engaged and supported to design innovative strategies that can counter the impacts of COVID-19 and facilitate the country’s swift recovery,” Mr Tetteh stated.