A delegation of the Queen Mothers Platform paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Health, Honorable Dr Kwaku Agyeman Manu together with his team in his office in Accra. His team included the Chief Director, Technical Coordination Director and Head of Public Relations.

The delegation of Queen Mothers Platform was led by Nana Amponsah Dokua III, President of the QMP and the Paramount Queen mother of Osudoku Traditional Area. It also included Nana Adutwumwaa Dokua, the Vice President and Paramount Queen Mother of Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, Mamaga Toleyifoe V, Paramount Queen mother of Ve Traditional Area, Naana Kabukour Dagojo Dumaaley I, Paramount Queen mother of Ada Traditional Area and Nana Tseasewaa III, Queen mother of Gwira, Akyinim.

The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the QMP to the Ministry to be recognized and be part of consultative discussions in managing the COVID19, to present the areas proposed for collaboration which involved a five point strategies developed by the members to complement the government’s effort to curb the spread of the pandemic and to establish basis for that collaboration.

The Minister acknowledged that there are indeed major socio-cultural issues that have emerged which has been challenging for the Government to handle and therefore it would be a good idea in collaborating with the Queen Mothers’ Council to help in handling those issues. He indicated that, much as the Government is very mindful of the need to involve Traditional Leaders in the fight against COVID 19, the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs is the sector Ministry that has been given the responsibility to facilitate the involvement of Traditional Leaders, whilst issues of community engagements are managed by the Ministry of information. He reiterated that the Government approach is to manage the disease from a multi-sectoral approach, bring in all Ministries that have a stake in any of the aspects of the management of the disease. Thus, even though the Ministry of Health is the main sector ministry for the management of the disease, strategies, approaches and implementation are all handled by the multi-sectoral team. The Honorable Minister assured the delegation that he will study the proposal and submit to the multi-sectoral team for consideration and necessary action. The Honorable Minister also indicated that community sensitization will soon be an important aspect of the work towards managing COVID 19 and expressed hope that working together with Queen Mothers in delivering on that would be very helpful.

It  was concluded that, the QMP will  be recognized and acknowledged as a stakeholder in the fight against COVID 19, the QMP will be invited to be part of all the high-level discussions and strategizing in dealing with all emerging socio-cultural issues in COVID 19 management and be an ally in implementing interventions at the community level.