STORY BY ZAINABU ISSAH
NINETEEN thousand Ghanaians, including 5,100 children under five years, die each year form diarrhoea, a study conducted in 2011 by the Water and Sanitation Programme and WaterAid has revealed.
According to the study titled, “Economic impact of Poor Sanitation in Africa 2011,” nearly 90 per cent of these deaths is directly attributed to poor water, sanitation and hygiene.
In addition, poor sanitation is a contributing factor, through its impacts on malnutrition rates, to other leading causes of mortality, including malaria.
It is with this background that WaterAid in Ghana launched its WaterAid in Ghana’s new Goodwill Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) Ambassador’s Programme in Accra.
The programme is to promote behaviour change towards improved health and hygiene education cleanliness, improve political prioritisation of WASH to fight WASH poverty and to also increase awareness of the WASH programme and funding base.
The Ambassadors include the Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional area, Nana Kobina Nketia V; Mrs Akofa Ajeani Asiedu, Ms Shamima Muslim, Mr Nathaniel Kwabena Anokye Adisi, popularly known as Bola Ray; Ms Jane Awindor, also known in the music circles as Efya; Mr Ben Brako and Ms Wilhelmina Abu-Andani, popularly known as Mimi.
The Country Representative of WaterAid Ghana, Madam Afia Zakiya, said the human right to water entitled everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.
She said the water and sanitation sector in the country needed to be given the immediate attention so as to prevent epidemic in future.
She, therefore, called on Ghanaians to take action and show the government and other duty barriers at all level that water and sanitation was crucial for human survival.
“We should tell our leaders and policy makers that investing in taps and toilets is an investment in basic human needs and an urgent priority. Schoolchildren need taps and toilets in schools and their homes,” she added.
The Deputy Minister of Environment Science and Technology, Dr Ahmed Mustapha, in his remarks, pledged the support of the Ministry to help improve the water and sanitation sector.
He recalled that the recent outbreak of cholera was as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene.
He also called on landlords to provide toilet facilities in their homes in order to prevent open defecation.
Dr Mustapha also urged the ambassadors to use the mandate given them to advocate good sanitation.
The Regional Extension Services Specialist for the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Mrs Theodora Adomako-Adjei, stressed that it was time sanitation and water issues became a core part of policies being discussed in the country.
Additionally, most out patient department (OPD) cases being recorded in hospitals were water and sanitation related cases, which could be avoided.
She appealed to Ghanaians to change their attitudes towards sanitation and water issues in order to eradicate water and sanction related diseases completely.
“Sanitation is everybody’s business. It is about time we changed our attitudes towards the sanitation and water sector for everybody’s safety,” she said.
NINETEEN thousand Ghanaians, including 5,100 children under five years, die each year form diarrhoea, a study conducted in 2011 by the Water and Sanitation Programme and WaterAid has revealed.
According to the study titled, “Economic impact of Poor Sanitation in Africa 2011,” nearly 90 per cent of these deaths is directly attributed to poor water, sanitation and hygiene.
In addition, poor sanitation is a contributing factor, through its impacts on malnutrition rates, to other leading causes of mortality, including malaria.
It is with this background that WaterAid in Ghana launched its WaterAid in Ghana’s new Goodwill Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) Ambassador’s Programme in Accra.
The programme is to promote behaviour change towards improved health and hygiene education cleanliness, improve political prioritisation of WASH to fight WASH poverty and to also increase awareness of the WASH programme and funding base.
The Ambassadors include the Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional area, Nana Kobina Nketia V; Mrs Akofa Ajeani Asiedu, Ms Shamima Muslim, Mr Nathaniel Kwabena Anokye Adisi, popularly known as Bola Ray; Ms Jane Awindor, also known in the music circles as Efya; Mr Ben Brako and Ms Wilhelmina Abu-Andani, popularly known as Mimi.
The Country Representative of WaterAid Ghana, Madam Afia Zakiya, said the human right to water entitled everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.
She said the water and sanitation sector in the country needed to be given the immediate attention so as to prevent epidemic in future.
She, therefore, called on Ghanaians to take action and show the government and other duty barriers at all level that water and sanitation was crucial for human survival.
“We should tell our leaders and policy makers that investing in taps and toilets is an investment in basic human needs and an urgent priority. Schoolchildren need taps and toilets in schools and their homes,” she added.
The Deputy Minister of Environment Science and Technology, Dr Ahmed Mustapha, in his remarks, pledged the support of the Ministry to help improve the water and sanitation sector.
He recalled that the recent outbreak of cholera was as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene.
He also called on landlords to provide toilet facilities in their homes in order to prevent open defecation.
Dr Mustapha also urged the ambassadors to use the mandate given them to advocate good sanitation.
The Regional Extension Services Specialist for the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Mrs Theodora Adomako-Adjei, stressed that it was time sanitation and water issues became a core part of policies being discussed in the country.
Additionally, most out patient department (OPD) cases being recorded in hospitals were water and sanitation related cases, which could be avoided.
She appealed to Ghanaians to change their attitudes towards sanitation and water issues in order to eradicate water and sanction related diseases completely.
“Sanitation is everybody’s business. It is about time we changed our attitudes towards the sanitation and water sector for everybody’s safety,” she said.
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