Rationale

Masks are a part of a comprehensive strategy of measures to suppress transmission and save lives; the use of a mask alone is not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection against COVID-19. Most of the people of our country are still unaware of using masks correctly at any crowded place. People have started avoiding masks after getting vaccinated as well. But in this Covid-19 pandemic situation, Volunteer for Bangladesh has started a campaign‘’Apnar Mask Kothay’’ back in November 2020. In that campaign, all the volunteers from 64 districts of Volunteer for Bangladesh raised awareness on using masks properly and its benefits on this pandemic.

Objective

To increase awareness on the importance of wearing masks and social distancing to decrease the risks of contamination of COVID -19 among the people.

Activity Details

“Apnar Mask Kothay” campaign was conducted throughout the country by our youth volunteers of Volunteers for Bangladesh. This campaign was one of the signature event of JAAGO Foundation and Volunteers for Bangladesh, where the youth volunteers of all the 64 districts of Bangladesh reached thousands of people and raised awareness on the importance of wearing masks during the COVID pandemic.

In 2020 and 2021 when the spread of Covid-19 was at its peak, the youth volunteers maintaining their safety protocols, ensured that the people were aware of the disease and the ways of contaminations. They helped the people understand the importance of wearing face masks correctly and distributed thousands of masks to the people all over the country. The campaign also targeted to raise the highest level of awareness among the people in the crowded places during occasions including shopping malls, Puja Pandals, different haat during Eid-ul-Adha etc where the volunteers set up booths to distribute masks those who were without masks.

Besides, between 28th to 31st January 2022, around 7000 youth volunteers actively took part in the campaign. After a proper sensitized training, volunteers distributed masks; awareness leaflets, conducted one-to-one advocacy to bust myths about COVID-19 and provided masks at various spots, including mosques, busy streets, public transports, overbridges, bus stops, and reached about 1 million beneficiaries. The whole campaign was observed maintaining COVID protocols.

With the sudden spike in COVID cases in the country, wearing masks has become more critical than ever. To encourage people, this campaign played a vital role in engaging the public to wear masks and highlight how to properly, safely use them, and dispose of them safely.

Outcome

• Thousands of youth volunteers from all the 64 districts of the country actively participated in the campaign.
• The youths were able to create awareness and disseminate knowledge regarding COVID 19 and safety protocols to approximately 1 million people all over the country.
• The beneficiaries were made aware of wearing face masks correctly, ways to dispose them after use and the importance of social distancing.