Participatory Behavior Change Awareness Education and Capacity building of Local stakeholders in Corona (COVID-19) Prevention Campaign 2020

Transcribed COVID-19 Prevention Campaign Content

Pre-session activities

• Participants wash hands with liquid hand wash and water or apply sanitizer before entering to hall or area. One of our team member record temperature of the participants with thermal gun at the entrance.
• Participants receive a facemask and poster.
• A team member collects attendance of all participants.

Introduction

It has now become very important to focus on how to minimize the spread of COVID-19 virus from person to persons by changing our behaviors and attitudes. Hence, VIN team has been conducting COVID-19 Prevention Campaign to discuss on the issue.

One of the major ways of keeping yourself safe from the virus is washing hands with soap and water. Hence, we requested you all to wash your hands with soap at the beginning of our session. Secondly, it is important and compulsory to put on a face mask when going out in public (gatherings, market etc.) Therefore, we have provided you all one mask each. We have also provided you with a poster which consists of all the important measures to be taken to avoid the spread of COVID-19. If you do not know how to read, please request your family members to go through the poster and explain them to you.

TV, news, radio and different other forms of media have been putting a major focus on these issues. We should not only listen to them, but also effectively practice them. At the end of this program, we will be gifting you all a hand wash, one per family. It has a visual description on how to properly and effectively wash hands.

Previously we conducted various programs including addressing the issue of open defecation where we discussed about hand washing steps. Corona spreads when we do not wash our hands properly as the virus is not killed. It might not be economically smart to use sanitizer at all times but using hand soap is very convenient.

You can refill the bottle from Cooperative once the bottle is empty. We will be conducting training on how to make liquid soap focusing women from this municipality. You will have to pay Rs. 100 when refilling the bottle. If you buy it outside, the same hand soap will cost you Rs. 250.

History and Present Scenario

You can see on the pamphlet a sun- like structure, this is how corona virus looks like. It has a spiky body. It is named Corona which is a French word for crown. And, since it resembles a crown it is called corona. COVID means Corona Virus Disease. Corona is the virus and COVID is the disease. It cannot be seen to the naked eyes and requires a microscope. When it comes in contact with respiratory system of mammals it multiplies and develops, causing disease.

It originated from the Wuhan province of China. We don’t know the origin of the disease, but experts think that it came from animals as it has genetic similarity to bat coronaviruses, suggesting it emerged from a bat-borne virus, but it hasn’t been proven. When people are infected, they spread the virus when coughing and sneezing, and some have suggested that even breathing “hard” towards other people can cause infection (speaking while standing too close to others, and also singing). This, then, causes a pandemic. After the rapid spread in Wuhan it was found that this new kind of virus affects the lungs. As it was discovered in the year 2019 it is therefore called COVID-19. When people from Wuhan started moving out of the country they carried the virus with them and facilitated the spread of disease.

In Nepal this disease was first seen in a person coming from China and secondly from a person travelling from Italy. They were kept in isolation until recovery. Now this disease has affected over 20 mio people worldwide with 734,025 deaths (at the moment of writing).  As of 6th September, there has been 45,277 confirmed cases, 27, 127 recoveries and 280 deaths so far. The government has not been able to expand PCR testing as it is considerably expensive, so we do not have accurate data as to how wide spread the disease might be. Asan, Indrachowk, Mahabouddha has been sealed due to the spread of virus. The lockdown has been lifted as the people need to continue their daily lifestyle. People now might die of hunger rather than the disease itself.

Mode of Transmission

The major way of virus transmission is via droplet infection when coughing and sneezing. If one family member is infected there is high chances of the whole family being infected. Then this might spread to community and the whole village. Diseases like cholera, typhoid spreads via polluted food and water and affects only certain people. But COVID spreads through air and droplet and hence, it is dangerous.

Major Symptoms

Once the virus enters into a human body it causes fever (above 100 degree Fahrenheit), headache, cough, common cold and difficulty in breathing. Headache and common cold might be present in common cold during monsoon season. But, corona is characterized specifically by difficulty in breathing as it causes the swelling of air tract and narrows it.

This has not originated from our communities but from China. This is brought to our country from abroad. So if anyone from our family has arrived from abroad (such as America, Europe, Spain, France, Brazil, Malaysia, Dubai, Qatar, India) or even from Terai region of Nepal (specially Province 2) or you may have come in contact with people coming from those regions and if you see these symptoms in yourselves, you need to immediately go to the hospital. Now a day’s people are going to city every day for work and market, this may further aid in transmission of the infection.

Testing and Diagnosis

There are two kind of test for Corona: First, RDT (Rapid Diagnostic Test) checked by blood test, which is not very reliable. Second, PCR (Polymer Chain Reaction) checked by naso pharyngeal secretion test, which is more reliable and considered as a confirmatory test. It proves the existence/non-existence of Corona virus in a person. This test can be done in Teku (Rastriya Prayogshala and Sukraraj Tropical), Teaching hospital Maharajgunj, Patan and Bir Hospital. If you are infected, the test will be positive. You will be kept in isolation (Ekantabas) in a closed room with toilet facility within the room. You cannot meet anyone. If someone die, the dead bodies will be buried. Family members are not allowed to touch it, as it spreads the disease. Therefore, we need to be cautious in time.

Treatment

The cure for this disease has not been discovered yet. No injection has been found. This has been highly life threatening in nature. We need to keep ourselves safe. This does not mean everyone who get infected dies. Worldwide more than 20 million people have been infected and almost 13 millions have recovered. The people at the risk of death are as follows:

• People above the age of 65
• Individuals with diabetes/ sugar disease, heart or cardiovascular diseases, lungs diseases, kidney diseases, Cancer and taking medicines for long term.
• Persons with low immunity

Preventive Measures

• The severity of disease highly depends on your physical wellbeing. We need to be careful not to let people with chronic illness go to market and public places. We should be very careful when going to crowded places such as the ward office, the municipal office, the market etc.
• Ask people to wash hands with soap and water before entering the house, using mask and gloves when going out of the house. Along with Corona; Diarrhea, jaundice, typhoid can also be prevented by washing your hands properly with soap and water.
• The virus also spreads from objects, money if an infected person has touched them. Do not touch your face, eyes, mouth or nose after touching these objects. Clean your hands and other articles (fruits, vegetables etc.) before using them.
• The virus is present in the saliva and sputum of infected person. We have the habit of spitting anywhere and everywhere. It is important to make specific area to spit. If someone is sick/old and unable to go move around, we can find a closed jar for them to spit. Then it can be disposed and cleaned afterwards. This prevents the spread of various diseases including Corona.
• Use your hands, handkerchief or inner elbow to cover your mouth when coughing. Then clean your hands or handkerchief from time to time. If you do not have any handkerchief or tissue paper use inner elbow as it vastly prevents the spread of disease.
• Make the habit of doing Namaste rather than shaking hands or hugging to be safe.
• If bat nests are present around your house make sure to get rid of them along with wild animals.
• Eat well cooked meat and vegetables.
• Make the habit of carrying a sanitizer in your pocket and use them after coming in contact with people. Then, you may wash your hands when you get home.
• Make sure your sanitizer has 70% alcohol as it kills Corona virus. The normal alcohol that we consume cannot be used as a sanitizer as it contains only about 50% alcohol.
• Focus on social distancing. If you stay home and do not go out, you have less tendency of getting infected. When you go to public places (the CDO office, the market, etc.), make sure you maintain distance from people. Keep at least 2 meters’ distance from people who are not from your household.

Why is social and physical distancing necessary?

Let’s imagine, a person from our community is infected with Corona. Like on a normal day, if he/she goes about in public places and meets people all day, in 5 days he/she will transmit the disease to 2 and a half people and, in 1 month 406 person. If he/she goes outside only half day (50%), in 5 days he/she will transmit the virus to 1 person and, in 1 month only 15 people. If he/she stays home, he/she will not spread the virus. Thus, to ensure physical distancing and prevent spread of disease the government enforced lockdown.

In America, lockdown was not enforced causing the death of a great number of people. Recently, lockdown has been lifted in Delhi; hospitals are full with patients sleeping on the floor due to lack of beds. Now since the lockdown has lifted, Nepal is at high risk. People have not been practicing social distancing effectively.

How to properly wash our hands?

We need to follow the accurate steps when washing our hands with soap; back of the hands, focus on corners of fingers, thumb and nails (with demonstration). This should take at least 20 seconds. Make the habit of frequently washing hands. This kills all the virus preset on your hands. The outer layer of the Corona virus is made up of fat like substance called lipid. Soap water helps in destroying this layer causing death of virus.

How to increase immunity power?

As the cure has not been discovered yet, we need to increase our body’s immunity power to fight the virus.

• Eat nutritious food (vegetables, fruits, eggs, milk, meat)
• Exercise frequently (waking, yoga, breathing exercise)
• Frequently drink teas made from medicinal herbs (Gurjo, Bhojo, Tulasi, Amala)

Remember this is not the cure for corona. But, makes our body strong to fight against disease causing organisms. It is highly important to practice all these steps discussed above to be safe from the virus. We would like to remind you that it is important to adopt prevention techniques in our daily living. The virus may go for longer until vaccine is discovered. By that time, we may have to live together with Corona virus.