The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in partnership with MTN Group launched a joint campaign dubbed, “One More Push” to accelerate the fight against the deadly Covid-19 that has globally claimed millions of lives and over 2,000+ only in Uganda.
The “One More Push” campaign is a renewed drive of the #WearItForMe campaign that was launched in September 2020. With the renewed campaign [One More Push], Africa CDC and MTN Group are encouraging people across Africa not to give up on fighting the Covid-19 —calling on everyone to continue following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and keep practicing the preventative measures that can combat and limit the spread of the virus.
Africa CDC and MTN Group ask people across Africa to continue wearing their masks, washing their hands & sanitizing, and practice social distancing. The two firms believe that in this way, we will be able to get back to the ‘old normal’ (or the best possible version of it) sooner rather than later.
“With third and fourth waves of Covid-19 sweeping across parts of Africa, we cannot overstate the importance of everyone doing their best right now to keep the virus at bay. The “One More Push” campaign aims to encourage people to keep practicing the preventative measures we know can limit the spread of Covid-19,” Africa CDC Director, Dr. John Nkengasong said while launching the campaign.
MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita adding to Dr. Nkengasong remarks said ” The campaign is about encouraging the people of Africa to remain vigilant in fighting Covid-19 at a time when we are experiencing new waves of infections, and vaccination progress towards herd immunity is still some time away for our people.”
Mupita notes that MTN’s fortunes were closely tied to the health and prosperity of the continent.
A key part of the campaign is onemorepushafrica.com, a digital content hub of credible and authoritative third-party content covering all things related to Covid-19. This includes facts about getting vaccinated, advice from leading healthcare bodies and medical experts, and important information from the Africa CDC.
“As we continue with the distribution of vaccines across Africa, we all need to keep focused on overcoming Covid-19,” said Dr. Nkengasong. “We implore all of Africa’s people to keep it up – let’s all give it one more push.”
The awareness campaign is an extension of the African Union’s ‘Adapted Africa Joint Continental Strategy for Covid-19 Pandemic’ endorsed by Africa’s Health Ministers and aligned to the ‘Prevent, Monitor and Treat’ approach. It is also an extension of the partnership between the Africa CDC and MTN Group, which includes the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines to health workers across Africa through the MTN Group’s USD$25 million (approx. UGX88,422,750,000) donations.
Notably, Uganda like many countries across Africa has been hit with a more ravaging wave of the virus that has seen the country register more deaths than before. Moreover, this is happening at a time when masses suffer from increased apathy, mask fatigue, vaccine myths and misinformation, and overall concern about vaccine efficacy and safety.
This calls for renewed effort and zeal in deliberately fighting the spread of the disease. Therefore, the ‘One More Push’ campaign will inspire and motivate the masses to give the fight against Covid-19, one more push.
Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN Uganda CEO noted that the campaign is about encouraging the people of Uganda and Africa to remain vigilant in fighting the virus, at a time when we are experiencing new waves of infections.
“Uganda is currently in the middle of the second wave of this pandemic which has been more detrimental than the first wave. In these times, we all ought to double our efforts to safeguard ourselves and loved ones against the deadly disease.” Vanhelleputte said.
MTN Uganda has been instrumental in the fight against Covid-19 since the onset of the virus, early last year. The most outstanding among its series of interventions is last year’s ‘Wear it for me’ campaign that urged the masses to practice mask-wearing alongside the other standard operating procedures as a way to prevent the spread of the lethal Covid-19 virus.
