By Anthony Adongo Apubeo, GNA
Bolgatanga, Aug. 21, GNA – Zoomlion Ghana Limited has commenced a week-long disinfection and fumigation exercise across the 15 municipalities and districts in the Upper East Region to help prevent an outbreak of diseases during the peak of the rainy season.
The exercise is targeting public toilets, markets, schools, health facilities, communal container sites, dumping sites and drains, where the accumulation of waste and contaminated water could create conditions conducive to the spread of disease-causing pathogens.
The exercise forms part of a broader nationwide initiative by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, to disinfect and fumigate public spaces following the recent flood disaster in parts of southern Ghana.
The exercise is also part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, with the company providing the service free of charge.
Speaking on the sidelines of the exercise, Mr Kojo Njabore Upon, the Upper East Regional Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, said although the region was not affected by the floods, the exercise was being undertaken as a preventive measure, particularly because the region was currently experiencing the peak of the rains.
He said the exercise was aimed at disinfecting and fumigating areas where pathogens could exist and potentially cause outbreaks, including cholera, especially in communities with poor sanitation and open defecation.
Mr Upon explained that rainwater could carry contaminants from areas affected by open defecation and indiscriminate dumping into public spaces and drains, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.
He said the fumigation exercise was therefore intended to reduce the risk of disease transmission by disinfecting such areas.
Mr Upon clarified that the current exercise did not involve general refuse collection, although waste clearing could be undertaken under a separate programme in some areas.
Mr Upon also urged residents to participate fully in the National Sanitation Day and take personal responsibility for maintaining clean surroundings.
“Sanitation is not an event. It is continuous. We can come and disinfect your place and all that, but the debris will continue to come. So, it is now their responsibility to also make sure their immediate surroundings are clean around this time,” he said.
He encouraged households and traders to properly store their waste and engage waste management service providers to collect and dispose of it at designated sites.
He said residents should consider the cost of proper waste management as an investment in their health, noting that illness could result in medical expenses and loss of income.
Mr Charles Yinbil Awuni, the Upper East Regional Environmental and Sanitation Officer, welcomed the intervention, describing it as timely, and urged residents to complement the exercise by keeping their immediate surroundings clean and avoiding the indiscriminate disposal of waste.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Email: [email protected]
21 Aug 2026