By Christopher Arko
Accra, April 17, GNA – Professor Ellis Owusu‑Dabo, a public health expert, has called for the establishment of a wastewater surveillance scheme to serve as an early warning system for public health action.
He said such a prompt alert system would help keep Ghanaians safe, allowing the country to focus on combating other outbreaks such as COVID‑19 and Ebola.
Prof Owusu‑Dabo, Chairman of the Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance (WES) Meeting 2026, made the call at the conference in Accra.
“Over the years, the country has not thought of the interaction between the environment and the people who live within it. We almost appear to think as though we are separated from the environment and therefore we do not take care of our environment,” he said.
The meeting, on the theme “Harnessing wastewater and environmental surveillance – a one health and disease control tool”, was organised by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service.
It brought together scientists, health experts and policymakers from Ghana and abroad to discuss how wastewater and sewage can help detect diseases early and protect communities.
Prof Owusu‑Dabo highlighted the public health implications of poor environmental practices, including indiscriminate dumping of refuse, toxic industrial waste, harmful farming methods, and household pollution.
He explained that wastewater carried signals of disease outbreaks which, when synchronised with clinical data, could guide public health interventions.
Prof Owusu‑Dabo noted that the Bill Gates Foundation had supported KNUST’s Department of Environmental Science and Technology for 15 years, expanding research into wastewater surveillance nationwide.
He said Ghanaian experts and policymakers attending the conference were already picking up data to enhance environmental surveillance.
Prof Owusu‑Dabo added that sentinel sites across the country could be expanded to predict outbreaks and trigger corrective action.
“These are not just theoretical contributions, but evidence of lives that can be saved when we listen to what our water is telling us,” he said.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey