Caritas DR Congo Launches Campaign to “protect vulnerable groups” against COVID-19

DRC has recorded at least 4,637 cases of COVID-19 including 580 recoveries and 101 related deaths.

For a period of three months, Caritas Congo ASBL will seek to conduct the widest possible sensitization campaign about COVID-19 that will see its agents equipped with megaphones, banners, and posters traverse the neighborhoods of Kinshasa.

The agents will target the poorest neighborhoods where frequent power cuts do not allow the population to access messages that are broadcast on radios and televisions.

Speaking about the goal of the sensitization campaign, the Executive Secretary of Caritas Congo ASBL, Boniface Nakwagelewi Deagbo said that it aims at clarifying public perception that the pandemic does not exist in DRC.

“The campaign would like to break the pernicious rumour of denial of the existence of COVID-19 deliberately maintained in our city by ill-intentioned people who want to mislead the masses and encourage the spread of this virus whose virulence is reported to us at every moment by the media worldwide," Deagbo said during the event.

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He added, “This is the place to say loud and clear: Coronavirus exists but we can avoid it by respecting the preventive measures proposed by the health authorities in our country.”

To ensure better interaction with the population, the agents will be locally trained to serve as relays in their respective communities where they are well familiar with the realities of their neighborhoods.

The campaign will also ensure the protection of elderly people housed in some eight homes of the elderly in Kinshasa, which are equipped with hand washing devices and sanitizers.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the leadership of Caritas Congo ASBL launched an appeal to people of good will to come to the aid of the people of God of Kinshasa and other towns overwhelmed by COVID-19 that knows no borders.

The Catholic Church entity has received support from various donors including the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the General Secretariat of Caritas Internationalis who funded the sensitization campaign.

“On the occasion of the launch of this campaign, we would like to say a special and heartfelt thank you to the Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development of the Holy See (Peter Cardinal Turkson) and to the Secretary-General of Caritas Internationalis (Aloysius John) for their concern for the Congolese population through the means put at our disposal for this sensitization campaign,” the Executive Secretary of Caritas Congo ASBL said.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.