Stay Safe Africa urges Africans to play their part against COVID-19 by following proven prevention methods.
Today, the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) strengthens its commitment to helping African communities protect themselves and those around them from the emerging threat of COVID-19, by partnering with Speak Up Africa through the Stay Safe Africa campaign.
In Africa, there are currently over 84,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,771 deaths. Several risk factors mean the virus could spread quickly across the continent. High population densities, communal living as well as the constrained access to water and washing facilities all increase the likelihood of coronavirus infections and fatalities.
Stay Safe Africa seeks to empower communities and individuals to take simple and proven preventive measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Africa. The campaign incorporates messages and advice tailored to African communities and leadership, accounting for language, literacy and cultural barriers.
Through their shared passion to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, CAF and Speak Up Africa are collaborating to bring the Stay Safe Africa campaign to a new audience and to ensure factual information are disseminated to a wider public, mitigating the amount of misinformation being spread about COVID-19.
To support Stay Safe Africa, CAF will promote the campaign, through a series of social media activations. By lending its influential voices, clubs and legends to the campaign, CAF hopes to help protect one billion Africans from COVID-19.
“Football brings together so many people from different backgrounds, nationalities and languages. Even though domestic championships and continental tournaments have been put on hold, we must now come together, at a distance, to fight the spread of this disease and misinformation. We are proud to adopt the Stay Safe campaign and help protect the billion people on the African continent”, underlines Abdelmounaim Bah, Acting CAF General Secretary.
CAF and Speak Up Africa both share the ethos that increased awareness and knowledge on proper health prevention methods among communities in Africa are crucial to combat the issue of misinformation.
“It is vital that individuals across Africa take responsibility to protect themselves, their families and their communities, by following the recommended prevention measures against COVID-19. We are thrilled to partner with the Confederation of African Football, as we know it will use its powerful platform to spread the all-important prevention messages to football fans across the continent. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, we must come together and work towards our common goal”, highlights Yacine Djibo, Executive Director of Speak Up Africa.
Sport is a powerful tool to transform the continent, particularly when it comes to health initiatives, and this partnership will incite positive change in health practices and behavior.