Life-saving health awareness messaging drive launched

[caption id="attachment_458372" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Students at the Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences prepare prosthetics in Peshawar on December 3, 2018, on the International Day of Disabled Persons. (Photo by ABDUL MAJEED / AFP)[/caption]

Alight Pakistan, an NGO, with the collaboration of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education (PAGE) has launched a six-week life-saving health awareness messaging campaign titled "InOurHands" on social media to curb the coronavirus spread across the country.

Renowned local celebrities from different fields including sports, showbiz, civil society activists, opinion leaders, top politicians and other influencers would be engaged to share their video messages; calling upon the people to keep their hands clean for the safety of their life.

Speaking on the launching of the InOurHands campaign in Pakistan, NCHD Chairman Dr Ameerullah Marwat said on Sunday that this is the moment to join together, to keep each other safe, to protect our most vulnerable and to spread kindness in the adverse situation the world is facing right now. "This is a scary time, but we can all make space for kindness and love through care for the less privileged by simple acts of benevolence," he added.

"We have launched InOurHands campaign in Pakistan to show care for our people and play our part in fighting the Covid-19 - a microscopic virus with gargantuan might which has overwhelmed even the world's best health systems," said Dr Tariq Cheema, Country Representative, Alight Pakistan.

He hoped that the campaign will help containing the spread of the coronavirus and supplement efforts of the government with regard to prevention of the pandemic.

He said that bilingual health awareness messages through influencers' engagement in the form of video and info-graphics will be shared on social media and popular pages to create ripple effect and reach out to varied populations across Pakistan and continents to keep themselves clean and safe from the Covid-19 through simple hand-washing techniques.

The InOurHands campaign coordinator in Pakistan Fajar Rabia Pasha said that they would invite top government officials, corporation and multinationals heads, civil society leaders and influencers to join the drive and spread message of care and safety from coronavirus.

She said the Alight Pakistan and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training have also launched a countrywide program in collaboration with 'Educate a Child (EAC) programme' to enrol one million out-of-school children (OOSC) in the country.

"Through its strategic partners including provincial education departments, BISP and other civil society organizations, the Alight Pakistan is implementing this three years program in 56 districts of Pakistan where over 850,000 out-of-school children have been enrolled so far," she added.