FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19: ESTABLISH MUNICIPAL BRIGADES TO PROTECT INTERACTIONS IN TRADITIONAL MARKETS

• AdminAfrica

In the event of a health crisis like the one we are currently experiencing, should we keep traditional markets in Africa open?
The answer is clear, given that all traditional markets have been operational since the announcement of the first positive cases in the various affected countries.
In Africa, traditional markets are the nourishing mothers of the populations. All fresh food is brought there every day. Each family goes there to make the daily, weekly or monthly supply, depending on social class.
So ordering the closure of a market would be to deprive families of food, to impact the revenue of traders who do not have warehouses. If they had warehouses, they would not have modern equipment for foods conservation.
In view of the above, the municipal authorities on which these markets depend must adapt to the situation and propose effective solutions for the management of traditional markets.

What attitude should these municipal authorities adopt to help these traditional markets operate while fighting against the spread of the virus?
We recommend the creation of the municipal traditional markets brigade to fight against Covid 19. It is necessary to impose a municipal brigade tasked with monitoring the entrances and exits of the markets after having delimited them with security barriers. They would provide mandatory hand washing solutions when entering and leaving markets. They would require the wearing of masks by all traders and customers active in the market….
This will all be preceded by a vast communication and local awareness campaign with all stakeholders in the markets and the media to reduce the risk of contamination?
At the end of the day, COVID19 would have made it possible to create one-off jobs and put municipal authorities integrated into the national plan to fight the pandemic at the forefront.

Source: Konan NGUESSAN