By Bertha Badu-Agyei,
Gbolo-Kofi (E/R), Feb 5, GNA – Water in Africa Through Everyday Responsibilities (WATER), a not-for-profit organisation, has completed two important projects in the Gbolo-Kofi District of Okere and Twum Guaso Akuapem North District of the Eastern Region.
The non-governmental organisation handed over a mechanised borehole to Gbolo-Kofi, ensuring access to clean water, and an ultra-modern toilet facility to Twum Guaso, improving sanitation in the area.
The gesture formed part of a project by WATER with funding from ANESVAD Foundation, a non-profit and non-governmental organisation supporting health and social development projects in Africa, to help eliminate Skin-Neglected Tropical Diseases (Skin-NTDs) in the two districts of the Eastern Region.
Among other objectives, the facilities are meant to end open defecation and improve the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) situation in the two farming communities to eliminate endemic skin NTDs.
The project, in partnership with the assemblies, also aimed at eliminating skin diseases such as Buruli ulcers and yaws, contracted through drinking contaminated water.
During a brief ceremony to hand over the facilities, Mr Aboagye Afosa, the Executive Director of WATER, noted that the provision and improvement of WASH facilities remained a key objective in the implementation of the project.
“This project to eliminate Skin-NTDs is providing and repairing over 15 broken boreholes in the project intervention districts to ensure that the people have access to potable water and toilets to stop open defecation,” he stated.
Madam Juliana Asamoah, the Okere Disease Control Officer and NTDs Coordinator expressed concern over the increasing cases of the diseases recorded in the district and expressed the hope that the interventions would help address the problem.
GNA