The Compendium of Women's Skills in Côte d'Ivoire, through its Euphrasia Coordinator Yao Kouassi, faced with the health situation of Covid-19, invited its members, 15,000 women and those from Africa to respect the strict measures recommended . This declaration was read on Wednesday April 1, 2020, at the headquarters of the Unesco Chair: Water, women and decision-making power, located at the Riviera Palmeraie Cocody.
"Draw the attention of women to more responsibility in the management of this health crisis; encourage discipline and strict compliance with hygiene rules; encourage the women of the Compendium and women leaders to be real agents of change; to stop the virus, by submitting to the prescribed sanitary hygiene measures ". These words are taken from the statement by the Coordinator of the Compendium of Women’s Skills in Côte d'Ivoire, Euphrasie Yao Kouassi.
… As agents of positive change, by putting into practice the triple role that we play in society, namely the reproductive, productive and community role.
If Ivory Coast registers, alas, 190 new cases infected with Covid-19, 9 cured and 1 death (Wednesday April 1) according to the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, Minister Yao Euphrasie asks these women not to see themselves as victims but rather "as agents of positive change, by putting into practice the triple role that we play in society, namely the reproductive, productive and community role".
Believing, moreover, that awareness of this triple role of women in society can effectively curb the spread of the pandemic. Chinese statistics indicate, according to Minister Yao Euphrasie, that more than 90% of the caregivers of the province of Hubeï, region most touched by Covid-19, in China are women. In addition, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), they account for around 70% in 104 countries.
The Coordinator for this purpose urged the women of Côte d'Ivoire to sensitize the people around them on the seriousness of the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), to respect and to make respect the rules of hygiene as well as the measures taken as part of the state of emergency. Admittedly, the current difficult situation is upsetting, she acknowledges, but proposes four essential golden rules to stem the epidemic.
They are based on strict respect for hygienic and sanitary deaths, total confinement except in an emergency, personal and collective discipline. The last rule is that of prayer and fasting for all the continents affected by Covid-19, in particular for Côte d'Ivoire, without any distinction of religious, political, tribal and ideological affiliation.
For those women who could not afford the protective masks, at the end of her statement, the minister engaged in a simple exercise in making masks with tissue paper.
Magloire Madjessou