By Eunice Hilda A. Mensah
Ashaiman, Nov. 23, GNA – Nii Annan Adjor, the Chief of the Ashaiman Community, has asked children to advise their parents to desist from open defecation and their mothers from wrapping and throwing their excreta in polythene carriers indiscriminately.
The advice is to prevent them from contributing to poor sanitation-related diseases like cholera, malaria, dysentery and typhoid among others.
“Mothers give children chamber pots and lay polythene in it and throw it outside and sometimes into gutters, expecting rainfall to carry it away to where they don’t know.
“Ashaiman is of age and so we should all do well to bring good practices and habit to brighten the story of the community. If we protect Ghana and live in a hygienic environment, it’s for our own good,” he added.
He gave the advice at the commemoration of the 2024 “World Toilet Day” by Plan International Ghana in partnership with Safisana Ghana Limited and and in Ashaiman on the global theme: “Toilets, A Place for Peace.”
The Chief advised parents to ensure that their children always had personal hygiene to protect them from diseases.
“Some parents never cut and clean their children’s nails for months and the children eat with which could make them sick. Remember that the government will not come to clean the houses of citizens for us, we must do it ourselves,” he added.
Mr Constant Tchona, the Country Director, Plan International Ghana, in a speech delivered on his behalf, said the commemoration was part of the NGOs “Stronger Together” project, which sought to enhance and improve the health situation of everyone through preserved sanitation.
“We are reminded of the urgent challenges across the globe as open defecation remains a major cause for concern. We therefore aim to reduce open defecation, improve waste management and promote healthy hygiene habits,” he said.
Dr Clifford Bubu, the Director of Education, Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, said people had mismanaged toilet for long and were paying the price for it.
“We are quick to make provision for nice kitchen and food items but the last thing we think of making provision for is the toilet.
“The most peaceful and time conscious activity is responding to nature’s call. Toilet being, the safest place to stay needs to be managed properly to prevent unhygienic conditions that could result in diseases. Toilet carries a lot of diseases.
“Every year, many eat at least some quantity of faecal matter and get typhoid as a result. That can’t keep on happening, ” he advised.
He tasked school children to learn all the sustainable development goals, especially ‘six” which sets a target for sanitation.
Mr Chris Chapman Kodan, the Ashaiman Municipal Director of Agriculture, said sanitation and agriculture worked hand in hand, as contaminated water from untreated sewage could pollute rivers and lakes used for livestock feeding and irrigation of crops that could in return lead to consumption of polluted foods.
Ensuring safe waste disposal and proper treatment of waste water, he said was crucial else farmers and families could not thrive, adding: “Sanitation is not a privilege but a right.”
He commended Plan International Ghana for the laudable event and gave an assurance of his office’s readiness to partner with them in execution of their projects whenever it became necessary.
Plan International Ghana used the platform to donate hand washing stations, liquid soaps and detergents, toilet rolls and tissue papers, and sanitation-related educative materials to the Ashaiman Cluster of Schools .
The school children also displayed and read aloud inscriptions to discourage open defecation and poor sanitation related practices such as: “If you wrap and throw poopoo, shame on you; Parents and Teachers, assist us to use the toilet facility well; Wash your hands with soap and clean water after using the toilet facility; Stop open defecation and always use the toilet facility”.
GNA