The National Sanitation Campaign

Last week, the National Sanitation Campaign was launched by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on the theme, Let's Keep Ghana Clean, Play Your Part. The campaign marks the beginning of series of activities to be implemented by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and all its stakeholders to rid the cities and towns of filth. It also marks the beginning of yet another national drive to make the nation clean for Sustainable National Development and the promotion of good health. The launch was significant especially against the backdrop of the declaration by the President that by the end of his first term in office, he would make Accra the neatest and cleanest city in Africa.

There is no doubt that one of the key issues today in national discourse is on sanitation, environmental pollution and land degradation due to the impact on the socio- economy of the country. It is estimated that poor sanitation practices in Ghana costs about $290 million per annum which is a drain on national resources. The cost incurred is as result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths, exposure to preventable diseases among other factors. One cannot also ignore the fact that the cost of procuring pharmaceuticals and other medications for the treatment of sanitation related diseases is another area of huge government expenditure.

Generally, the attitude of Ghanaians towards good sanitation practice is rather poor. Even in places where dustbins have been provided for the proper disposal of refuse, people throw rubbish around indiscriminately, regardless of the consequences on our health and the implication on national development. Open defecation is practiced everywhere and in most communities; the practice has become the accepted norm. Most of the beaches are never clean due to this uncivilised habit. This practice has become a great threat to the promotion of tourism in the country.

Statistics show that open defecation alone places a financial burden of almost $79 million per annum on the state. What is even more worrying is the fact that in Accra alone, there are close to two thousand pan latrines which have very serious health implications. The sanitation situation in most parts of the country is indeed an eyesore which if not addressed immediately would be a bane to the country’s quest in achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on sanitation. The establishment of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources by the President is a direct government response in dealing with the sanitation challenge. It has brought into being new policy direction and programmes to tackle the sanitation challenge head-on.

The major objective and consideration is to prepare the country in achieving the SDGs in general and promoting the living standard of Ghanaians in particular, for it is said that the wealth of every nation resides in the good health of its people. A healthy population of every nation facilitates sustained poverty reduction and socio- economic growth and development. The Sustainable Development Goal, SDG, on sanitation states that by the year 2030 all people in the world would have access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women, girls and the vulnerable.

The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources therefore is expected to formulate the necessary policies for implementation to enable all people living in Ghana to have easy access to Sanitation services and clean hygienic environment in relation to the objectives outlined in the Sustainable Development Goal target 6&2. Improved environmental sanitation would go a long way to contribute significantly to the reduction and prevention of water and sanitation related diseases such as malaria, typhoid and dysentery. It behoves all Ghanaians to contribute to the national programme by ensuring that the environment is always clean. If Ghanaians become a little more responsible collectively as a nation in dealing with sanitation issues, it will save the nation millions of the tax payers’ money which can be channeled into other development projects to enhance the standard of living of the citizenry.

By Nelson Kofi Akatey, Public Relations Officer, Ministry Of Sanitation And Water Resources.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Need For Ghanaians To Support The 2021 Budget

Showing compassion to the less privileged

One Year Of Coronavirus In Ghana