Poor Sanitation Practices Account For High Disease Rate
The inability of people to observe good sanitation practices accounted for high sanitation related diseases in health facilities in the Upper West Region.
As a result an amount of GH¢8,681,468 was spent on providing medical treatment on both out and in patients who attended health facilities in the region last year with malaria, acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea which are 90 per cent preventable through good sanitation and clean environmental practices.
The chairman of the Upper West Regional Health Committee, Alhaji Abu Yahaya disclosed these during the closing ceremony of a training workshop for 90 sanitation guards here on Saturday.
The training workshop, a collaboration between Zoomlion Limited, a waste management company and the Environmental Health Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development forms part of efforts to improve sanitation in various municipal and district assemblies in the region to promote good health.
It attracted sanitation guards from four districts namely Wa municipality, Wa East and West and Sissala East Districts who were taken through hygiene education and prevention, premise inspection, dissemination of sanitary information, supervision and monitoring of sanitation services, among others.
Alhaji Yahaya said that a total of 208,309 malaria cases were reported in health institutions in the region and that GH¢1,051,960 was spent on the treatment of patients at the Out Patient Department (OPD) while GH¢6,040,961 was expended on patients who went on admission.
He said 29 acute respiratory infections were recorded and treatment cost at the OPD was GH¢148,944 while the In Patient Department (IPD) stood at GH¢855,326.
According to Alhaji Yahaya diarrhoea cases reported in health institutions were 10,537 and treatment cost at the OPD level stood at GH¢53,211 while GH¢531,064 was expended on patients at the IPD.
Alhaji Yahaya noted that these monies could have been invested in other social amenities to better the lot of the people if they had observed good sanitation and environmental cleanliness.
He said the country cannot attain a middle income status, without seriously tackling sanitation adding, “How can Ghana move ahead in development when we have this bad picture on hand?”
The regional health committee chairman observed that developed countries have reached where they are today because they invested heavily in sanitation, the environment and preventive care and urged the government to inject more resources in sanitation management to prevent sanitation related diseases.
The Upper West Regional Operations Supervisor of Zoomlion, Mr Emmanuel Volsarri said the sanitation guards programmes was launched in 2006 by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to improve sanitation in communities, homes and cities and to help bring about change in hygiene behaviour and attitudes to improve healthy living among the people.
Mr Volsarri said sanitation related diseases have the potential of undermining the National Health Insurance Scheme unless something drastic was done to promote good sanitation and environmental cleanliness among the people.
He urged the sanitation guards to contribute in educating the people to live in clean environments to help improve their health status.
In a special message read for him, the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid commended Zoomlion Ghana Limited for partnering the Environmental Health Department to carry out the training programme to equip sanitation guards with the requisite knowledge to help improve sanitation in the various districts and communities.
He said if the people observe sound environmental practices, the huge investment on sanitation related diseases would be channeled into other important social issues
Mr Khalid urged the Regional Co-ordinating Council’s willingness to provide the needed support to initiatives aimed at enhancing good sanitation and environment cleanliness to avert the contraction of communicable diseases.
Sanitation Updates 
This is very good and there should be measures to teach the population the primary sanitation practices.
Thank you for what you are doing.
Andy