THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Maisha – African Women in Germany e.V. has launched an information and awareness campaign on Covid-19 in Germany’s African community.
The campaign ‘Information and Awareness Raising on Covid-19 – Model Project for African Migrants in Germany’ was launched on Sunday (8 August) in Frankfurt.
The event took place at the New Covenant Assemblies after the Sunday worship session of the church. Virginia Wangare Greiner, Executive Director of Maisha, said the coronavirus pandemic was far from over, pointing to the fact that more new cases were being reported across the country. She therefore called for renewed vigilance among Africans.
Ms Greiner expressed her interest to work with other African organizations in Germany to enable Maisha extend the campaign, themed Together we can protect each other and supported by the Ministry of Health, to all nooks and corners of the country.
Rev. Dr. Gernet Parris, project director, also spoke at the event on the need for Africans to adhere strictly to official advisories to support government’s anti-pandemic efforts.
Information on how to prevent infection, steps to take when infection is suspected and how to get appointment for vaccination was shared at the event.
One of the oldest African community initiatives in Germany, Maisha has been working on the improvement of the situation of African families for more than twenty-five years.
In co-operation with the health department of the city of Frankfurt, the organisation has been offering health advice to Africans since 2004 at its Maisha Beratungsstelle (Maisha Advisory Centre) in the financial city.
Pandemic far from over
The coronavirus pandemic is truly far from over. In fact, countries in Europe are reporting more new coronavirus infections compared with the previous two weeks. The rise comes amid surges caused largely by the highly contagious delta variant.
In Germany, the seven-day incidence value continues to rise. According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s centre for disease control and prevention, on Monday morning, it was 23.1 – the previous day the value had been 22.6, and a week ago it was 17.8. Health offices in Germany reported 1,183 new coronavirus infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago, the figure had been 847 infections.
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Health Minister Jens Spahn announced on Saturday that more than 45 million people in Germany have been fully vaccinated, or 54.5% of the population. A total of 51.8 million people, or 62.3%, have received at least one dose.
Meanwhile, authorities are reporting an increasingly lukewarm attitude to vaccination even though the RKI has found that vaccinations have a high rate of effectivness against the virus. The public health body says data shows that vaccinations will “pave the way out of the pandemic.”
There have been 3,791,949 confirmed infections since the beginning of the pandemic in Germany, but the actual total is likely to be much higher because many infections go undetected. The RKI also put the number of people who recovered at 3,667,400 while 91,784 persons have died from of Covid-19.
Femi Awoniyi
Contact:
Maisha e.V.
Neue Kräme 32
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 69 904 34 905
Email: maisha-african-women@gmx.de
Web: www.maisha.org
