COVID-19 in Kenya: UNIDO raises awareness about food safety
UNIDO’s ‘Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP)’, a European Union-funded initiative, has launched a food safety awareness campaign to sensitize people in Kenya about food safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The campaign, will reach out to the targeted audiences through social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and as well as through traditional media, with the aim of reaching millions of people.
Different messages have been tailor-made to target various audiences along the food value chain including producers, transporters, traders, buyers and food handlers, both at home and while out shopping. Social distancing for example, is an issue that needs to reach the traders as well as the buyers who are either middlemen or consumers.
Among the messages that will be disseminated will be the need to wash hands before handling food, to wash reusable bags after shopping, and the need to sanitize kitchen surfaces and observe social distancing while shopping for food.
MARKUP Kenya project is working in partnership with the Ministry of Trade, Cooperatives and Industrialization, Horticulture Crop Directorate, Fresh Produce Exporters Association, Fresh Produce Consortium, Horticultural Crops Directorate and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.
The majority of population in the urban areas will be reached through MARKUP’s social media campaign, and radio will be used to transmit public service announcements in Kiswahili. Posters will be used to disseminate food safety messages across 15 countries, including Nairobi and Mombasa, which have recorded the highest numbers of COVID-19 confirmed cases. The posters will be displayed in key areas like open air markets, shopping malls and supermarkets. Since, the WACOMP programme in Guinea has taken the initiative to adapt and replicate the poster series in French and English for West Africa.
Read press release here.
For further information, contact Yvonne Lokko (Y.Lokko [at] unido.org) and Steffen Kaeser (S.Kaeser [at] unido.org).
