Coronavirus: What Role Is Sanitation Ministry Playing For Receiving Portions Of US$100mn — Group Demands

The Alliance for WASH advocacy (A4WA) has called on Government to clearly-define role of the Ministry of Water and Sanitation Resources (MSWR) in the fight against the outbreak of the COVID-19 in the country.

In a press statement, the convener, Nora Ollennu indicated that portions of the 100 million dollars (USD) to be allocated to the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) to support the ongoing WASH initiative.

She urged that priority must be given to extensive rural health institutional strengthening initiatives (particularly on maternal and child health issues) and also to see to a progressive shift of focus from short-term measures to a long-term durable strategies such as sustained improvements in the WASH sector financing, key institutional strengthening at all levels, including the setting up of the National Sanitation Authority and the National Sanitation Fund, culturally-appropriate behavioral change communication (BCC) initiatives and the creation of a truly enabling environment for vibrant private sector participation in WASH the service delivery.

She has called on both central and local Government machinery to effectively embrace strong collaborations, broad-based consultations and active involvement of the WASH sector and the media in all proposed COVID-19 mitigation strategies so as to synchronize efforts and avoid uneven distribution of resources.

She further condemned the outrageous pricing of hand sanitizers and other sanitary products and the sale of counterfeit products by some opportunistic venders.

She also called on government to dialogue with industry players to make the alcoholic based sanitizers more affordable and readily available for the ordinary Ghanaian.

Nora Ollenu has called on citizens to sternly observe the recommended public health guidelines issued by the WHO and the Ministry of Health (MoH) on regular handwashing and other hygiene practices while ignoring false information from questionable sources.