Accra College of Education launches urgent run for better sanitation

Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - The Accra College of Education (ACCE), Water, Access, Sanitation and Hygiene Club has launched a programme dubbed: 'Urgent Run for Better Sanitation and Nutrition,' to improve the health of women and children in the country.

The focus of this year's programme is on the importance of sanitation for better nutrition because one to three people have no access to a clean and safe toilet that results and increase the risk of illness and malnutrition.

The programme which was an initiative of the African Centre for Culture Tourism and Human Development (ACCTHUD) and marked by the Youth Forum on Environmental Sanitation (YOUTHFES) had received endorsement from the Ministry of Local Government and rural Development.

Addressing the students of the Accra College of Education (ACCE), Mr Delasi Frank Amable, Associate Consultant and Lecturer of MDF Training and Consultancy of the West Africa office in Ghana, blamed the poor sanitation on the wrong attitude of the people.

He said it's an urgent issue to tackle since an estimated 18,000 Ghanaians, including 5,000 children under the age of five, die every year from ailment related to poor sanitation.

He said so much money had been pump into sanitation to draw the attention about indiscriminate open defecation which calls for serious concern for education on environmental and good hygiene practices.

'You as teachers on training need to take sanitation very important so that you inculcate into the children good hygiene habits and begin to educate people', he stressed.

Mr Amable lauded ACCTHUD initiative.
Mrs Margaret Asabea Anakwa, a tutor at the school in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said most women get infections because they not have good toilets.

She said the essence of the programme was to draw the attention of policy makers to the need for good sanitation in all schools.

She said the time has come for students on training to be practically supportive of the fight against poor sanitation conditions in schools.

'If government is talking about development then toilets are to improve environmental sanitation and human development,' he said.

Mr Eric Adzor-Daniels, Executive Director of ACCTHUD noted that YOUTHFES project needs support from donors and government to reach out to more communities.

He said the agenda 2030 calls on everyone to renew their efforts in providing access to adequate sanitation worldwide, adding that 'we must continue to educate and protect communities at risk and to change cultural perceptions and long standing practices that hinder the quest for dignity'.

GNA