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Media practitioners urged to highlight sanitation issues
Bolgatanga, Aug. 28, Ghanadot/GNA - Media
Practitioners have been urged to highlight sanitation
issues, that were seriously affecting the society.
Ms Irene Mensah, a representative of the Ministry of Local
Government and Rural Development (MLGRDE) made the call
during a Photo Exhibition in connection with the
International Year of Sanitation (IYS), held in Bolgatanga,
Upper East region.
Ms Mensah who is also the Coordinator in charge of the Photo
Exhibition and Media Briefing of the IYS, stressed that
there was the need for the media to do more research and
dissemination on sanitation, especially its impacts on
public health, economic and social development, and the
environment.
She indicated that sanitation was not a dirty word as
depicted by majority of the population.
“You the media need to constantly pose questions on
sanitation that are challenging, so as to improve it,” she
said.
She explained that it would be difficult for Ghana to
achieve a middle income level with the present level of
deplorable sanitation situation and said in the Upper East
Region, 17.5 per cent of 1,134 household members had
improved sanitation facilities, ranking the region in the
9th position out of the 10 regions.
Ms Mensah said according to statistics published by the
Joint Monitoring Platform at the end of 2006, Ghana was in
the 48th position in Africa out of 52 countries and 14th in
West Africa out of 15 countries beating only Niger.
The Upper East Regional Environmental Health Officer, Mr.
Abugbilla Mathew Asampana, said one of the major sanitation
problems in the region was open defecation and dumping of
waste at places unapproved by Environmental Protection
Agency.
He also indicated that most households did not cover their
drinking water containers and did not also clean their
poultry pens.
He asked the Media to educate the people on the harmful
effects of not paying proper attention to good sanitation
practices.
Mr Emmanuel Adii, Extension Services Specialist of Community
Water and Sanitation, called for the need for improved
collaboration and coordination between major stakeholders in
sanitation delivery in the region.
Mr Adii also stressed the need for increased political
commitment backed with resources for the implementation of
sanitation activities.
The first runner-up in the ‘Ghana Most Beautiful’ pageant
for 2008, Miss Eyram Dotse, appealed to Ghanaians to
practice good sanitation, to prolong their lifespan.
She appealed to the media to create sanitation columns in
papers to educate the general public on the need to maintain
good hygiene.
She called on stakeholders in sanitation to form what she
termed “Sanitary guards” to go round to help ensure that
good environmental practices were adhered to.
Participants emphasized the need for district assemblies to
make it compulsory for all landlords to provide places of
convenience for tenants in their houses.
The UN General Assembly in December 2006, declared 2008 as
IYS, aimed at drawing the world’s attention to the impact of
sanitation on public health, economic and social
development, and the environment, and to accelerate progress
towards the achievement of the sanitation target of the
Millennium Development Goals.
GNA
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