The Children’s Environmental Health Foundation (CEHF) has urged health professionals in Zambia to utilize art in educating the masses about the importance of good health for them to understand the messages and guidelines around COVID-19.
CEHF Chairperson Michael Musenga said that people needed to fully understand the messages behind the Covid-19 pandemic and the purpose of art was to change opinions and instil values in people in the best ways it could be understood.
He said that it was important for health professionals to sensitize people using art and art in local language as it was easier for people to understand the meaning behind the messages that were being conveyed.
Mr Musenga was reciprocating the Livingstone Subordinate Court Senior Resident Magistrate Honorable Ireen Wishimanga who stated that people need to be sensitized in their local language and art so that they fully understand and get the messages on the Covid-19 pandemic.
He gave an illustration of a short media clip of a young lady who was dancing and educating viewers on the application of Covid-19 health guidelines and that such form of art could be in communities throughout the country.
“Art is a very influential form of education and it educates people who share different experiences across different societies and time,” he explained.
Mr Musenga stated that any form of dancing, painting, sculpture, music, literature, and the other forms of arts are often considered to be the fountain of a society’s shared memory and thereby would greatly help in educating people on some of the issues especially around the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Art in this sense is a form of communication it will allow people to learn, ask questions and understand the dynamics of different issues around health and the Covid-19 pandemic,” he explained.