Higher Education, Science and Innovation Deputy Minister Buti Manamela, in support of the Higher Health and European Union programme, is to unveil the COVID-19 ZA Warriors Campaign.

As the third COVID-19 wave looms, Manamela emphasised a need to reinforce messaging and prevention measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, and to advocate for vaccination within campuses and communities.

This is through student volunteers who will now be known as COVID-19 ZA warriors.

Manamela said that Higher Health’s second curriculum peer-to-peer education programme is one of the big strengths within the department.

He said that it is a model that has been replicated for COVID-19 with the development of screening stations, where a specific protocol was developed in 2020, on establishing a student volunteer programme for the management of COVID-19 within the post school education and training sector.

“Through this student volunteer protocol, Higher Health managed to train over 14 000 student volunteers between April 2020 and March 2021,” Manamela said ahead of the launch.

The campaign will be unveiled at the Tshwane South College, Centurion campus, in Pretoria on Friday.

“This campaign will be rolled out through a partnership with the European Union. The launch of the COVID-19 Warrior ZA Campaign will also signify the recent funding partnership between Higher Health and the European Union,” the Deputy Minister said on Thursday. – SAnews.gov.za