Upper East Regional Minister urges collective responsibility to improve sanitation, prevent disease outbreaks
Regional Minister Donatus Akamugri Atanga says sustained community participation in sanitation is critical to preventing disease outbreaks and improving public health.
Upper East Regional Minister, Donatus Akamugri Atanga, has called on residents to take collective responsibility for improving sanitation and maintaining clean environments to help prevent disease outbreaks.
He said maintaining a clean environment was particularly important during the rainy season, when the risk of diseases such as cholera and other sanitation-related illnesses tends to increase.
The Minister made the call at the climax of the National Sanitation Exercise organised by the Kassena-Nankana West District Assembly at Kandiga on Saturday, September 5.
According to Atanga, the monthly sanitation exercise, held on the first Saturday of every month in accordance with a directive by President John Dramani Mahama, was an important initiative aimed at promoting environmental cleanliness across the country.
“We all need to clean up our public places, while those who cannot make it to the public places can also clean their own environments and premises,” he said.
He explained that improved sanitation was essential to reducing the incidence of diseases while contributing to the productivity and wellbeing of the population.
“This will lead to reducing the impact of sicknesses that break out as a result of filth, and that will have a long-lasting impact on the health of people. Good health increases productivity and improves people’s lives,” he said.
Atanga commended residents of Kandiga for their impressive turnout and urged them to sustain the practice beyond the monthly exercise to ensure a clean and healthy environment.
The District Chief Executive for the Kassena-Nankana West District, Stephen Aeke Akurugo also described the exercise as a success and assured residents that sanitation remained a priority for the Assembly.
He disclosed that plans were advanced to address some of the key sanitation challenges in the district, including the provision of modern toilet facilities at major markets.
“Plans are far advanced to get the Kandiga, Sirigu, Mirigu and Chiana markets modern toilet facilities, and that will begin soon,” he said.
The Chief of Kandiga, Naba Henry Abawine Amenga-Etego II, appealed to the Regional Minister, the District Chief Executive and other relevant authorities to prioritise the construction of a toilet facility at the Kandiga market.
He said the existing toilet facility had been out of use, leaving traders and visitors without a convenient place to attend to their sanitation needs.
“The only toilet in the market is out of use, and visitors and traders come to the market and have no place to relieve themselves,” he said.
Naba Amenga-Etego II also appealed to the authorities to prioritise the construction and improvement of road infrastructure in the area to facilitate the movement of people and goods.
The sanitation exercise attracted a large number of residents who cleaned the Kandiga market, including the animal market, the area around the old toilet facility and other parts of the community.
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