By Emmanuel Nyatsikor
Adaklu Kodzobi (V/R), March 14, GNA – Ms. Stella Vidzro, Adaklu District Environmental Officer, Friday stated that open defaecation was a challenge, a practice did not only bring unbearable stench but also poses health challenges to everyone.
“It’s an environmental hazard,” she stressed.
Ms. Vidzro was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview on the sidelines of a fumigation exercise being undertaken by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church Yayra Child and Youth Development Centre at Adaklu Kodzobi in the Adaklu district.
The fumigation, done in collaboration with the Adaklu District Environmental Office and Zoomlion Ghana, was part of the centre’s anti malaria campaign exercise.
The month-long programme is being sponsored by Compassion International Ghana (CIG), an organisation committed to transforming the lives of children living in extreme poverty.
Ms. Vidzro noted with concern that most households in the district did not have toilets, and some communities also did not have public toilets.
She stated that the maintenance of community public toilets was another challenge adding that some community members also used their school’s toilets which they often left in horrible states for the school children to clean.
Ms. Vidzro urged the people to take sanitation and hygiene issues seriously saying, “health is wealth.”
She called on Assembly Members, traditional and religious leaders and other stakeholders in the district to join hands with her outfit “to fight the canker of open defecation and nib it in the bud before it results in a catastrophy.”
Ms. Vidzro complained about attacks on her staff in some communities which said was deterring the staff from going to such communities to educate them on good sanitation practices and also enforce sanitation byelaws.
She bemoaned the lack of means of transport for her outfit which she said was a major setback in their smooth operation.
Ms. Viglo appealed to Mr. Governs Kwame Agbodza, Minister for Roads and Highways who is also the Member of Parliament for Adaklu, to help provide them with a means of transport to facilitate their work.
Mr. Benjamin Fumador, Director of the Centre, told the GNA that as part of the celebration, his out organised cleanup exercises, sensitization on malaria and health screening for their participant’s caregivers.
She commended CIG for their financial and logistics support to make the exercise a success.
Mr. Fumador appealed to parents and guardians of the participants to see to it that their wards always sleep under insecticide treated mosquito nets and also keep their environments clean.
GNA
MA/BM