Port Louis. “Enn Sel Lepep Conte COVID” (The Whole Nation Together Against COVID) Awareness campaign was launched by the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr Hon. Pravin Kumar Jugnauth on 23 May 2021 at Cote D’or Sports Complexe, in the centre of the island in the presence of Her Excellency, Mrs Christine Umutoni, United Nations Resident Coordinator,  Dr Laurent Musango, the WHO Representative in Mauritius, Dr Hon Kailash Kumar Jagutpal, Minister of Health and Wellness, Hon Stephen Toussaint,  Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Recreation and other eminent personalities.

UN and WHO supported the national awareness campaign on COVID-19 by providing technical and financial support to produce a very comprehensive pack of sensitization materials including short animated videos, banners, posters, pamphlets and flyers.   Under the Novartis-funded project, 10 short animated videos were produced as well as 600,000 pamphlets and 300,00 flyers on proper wearing of face mask, social distancing, vaccination, mental health and alternatives to handshake to avoid COVID-19 infection.

“It should be a permanent campaign and people should not forget to continuously take all the precautionary measures to prevent COVID-19,” said Hon Prime Minister of Mauritius during the launch of the campaign.  He added, “if we do not stay vigilant, one single case can be catastrophic for the country.”   An appeal was made by the Head of the Government of Mauritius to the population as well as to the Non-Government Organizations, the private sector and everyone to “stay united together to be able to fight COVID-19”.

Her Excellency, Mrs Christine Umutoni, United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC) during her address, said, “everybody should take his or her responsibility and continue taking all the precautionary measures such as regular hand washing, proper wearing of face masks and keeping social distancing.”  According to the UNRC, “these measures should be in our DNA as the fight against COVID-19 is not yet over”.  Her Excellency, Mrs C. Umutoni made an appeal to the whole population to “do it all” when they get the opportunity to be vaccinated.

Dr Laurent Musango, the WHO Representative in Mauritius, during his address, expressed his gratitude to the Government of Mauritius for having effectively implemented all the measures recommended by the UN and WHO to prevent and control COVID-19.

“The population should be proud of the very strict measures taken by the Government of Mauritius to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.  Mauritius is one of the very few countries in the African region which has been able to control COVID-19 over a relatively short time,” said Dr L. Musango who also added that the country did very well during the first wave last year  in limiting COVID-19 spread and this is also the case during this second wave.”  The WHO Representative emphasized on the “tripartite collaboration, that is collaboration between the UN, the Government and the population to prevent and control COVID-19.”

Hon Stephen Toussaint, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Recreation spoke of the role of the youth in supporting the Government to create awareness on COVID-19 in the country.  A pool of youth leaders from the Youth Ministry and the National Youth Council are going in strategic points in the city centre and other parts of the island to talk to people about the importance of continuously taking all the precautionary measures to prevent COVID-19.