Community empowerment vital in fight against Covid-19
SIBU: The Alliance for The Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye calls for community empowerment in the fight against Covid-19.
He pointed out that this is because when everyone in the community shares responsibility for safety and health, the community is assured of its best protection.
“The real impact of diseases such as Covid-19 is better understood by the unfortunate victims and their family members. For family members who have lost their loved ones, their lives will never be the same again.
“The real challenge for our community today is to impress upon everyone the real impact that Covid19 causes to human lives and the need for everything possible to be done for its prevention.
“This is why community empowerment is so important to guide, advice and help one another to combat Covid-19,” Lee said in a statement yesterday.
“As such, we must get the message across that safety must be accepted as a cherished personal value which must be practised in all aspects of our lives, whether at the workplace, on the road, in the home, in our schools, in sports and recreation.
“In the matter of combating Covid19 no amount of efforts by the Health authorities and the frontliners can help us if the community is not prepared to empower itself to ensure the health and safety of the members of the community,” he added.
Lee said for safety to effectively encompass all aspects of life and reinforced as a shared value, lifestyle and attitude, it is vital there be involvement and participation by the community.
This can be achieved through community outreach educational programmes jointly organised by various government agencies, professional bodies and nongovernmental organisations, he highlighted.
The educational programmes should be targeted not just to the working population but to the elderly, the housewives, hawkers, shopkeepers and especially the young children, Lee suggested.
A community that is well informed and educated about safety will naturally be one where members of the community value and practise safety as a way of life, he said.