KEWUM COMMUNITY

23-03-2015                              WE NEED WATER

Residents of Kewum in the Shai Osudoku District have appealed to the government to as a matter of urgency provide the community with potable water. According to them the only source of water for the community is the Volta Lake which has been polluted by sand winning activities by some community members. Speaking to Obonu News, the Dade Mantse of the Community, Alfred Tetteh said the community, for the past three years has not had access to potable water.  Kawum is a farming community with the population of about one thousand. The community has not experienced any development since it was carved out of Asutuare. The only thing the community can boost of is its accessibility to the Volta Lake which the residents even share with animals. Mr. Tetteh explained that although the community has a borehole which was constructed by Water Aid Ghana, for the past three years the borehole has become faulty, saying since the chlorine and carbon used to purify the water got finished they are unable to treat the water making it turn red. The Watsan Committee Chairman of the Community, Mathew Nartey Apotchie said the issue of WASH is a major challenge in the area. He explained that aside the water problem, the community has no place to dispose of refuse saying they just put it anywhere. He said open defecation has become a common practice in the area due to the lack of toilet facilities in the community.  When Obonu news visited some surrounding communities within the Shai Osudoku District, the situation was not different. Some residents were seen fetching water from drains for their domestic chores. They however appealed to the government to urgently provide the communities with potable water to help curtail the outbreak of communicable diseases in the area. 

HS                                                  END                                         

        

WAG Global Strategic Plan

                                             WASH STRATEGIC PLAN

 Water Aid Ghana has designed a five-year Global Strategic Plan spanning 2015 to 2020. The Plan is to help reduce the inequalities in the WASH sector and improve hygiene. Explaining the plan to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health in Accra, the Country Director of Water Aid Ghana, Dr. Afia Zakiya, said the Strategy will promote positive hygiene behaviours and attitudes towards WASH. Water Aid Ghana, an International Non-Governmental Organization for the past years has been collaborating with stakeholders and other civic society organizations in Ghana to transform lives by improving access to potable water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. Dr. Zakiya said the five year strategic plan will strengthen and support the capability of governments and other service providers to deliver sustainable WASH services. She explained that bridging the inequality gap, the strategy will enable the poorest and most marginalized people to realize their rights to water, sanitation and hygiene. She noted that it is important to promote the integration of water, sanitation and hygiene into other areas of human development critical for poverty eradication and sustainable development. She said the lack of potable water and proper sanitation practices have a serious implication on a nation’s development, adding that about 19-thousands Ghanaians including five thousand one hundred children under age five die annually from diarrhoea. Dr. Zakiya said from April 2013 to April 2014 Water Aid Ghana has exceeded its service delivery target in the water and sanitation sector in some the urban and rural areas. She said the target set during the periods under review for water in the urban area was 32-thousand-586 and the rural areas was 40-thousand-566 with the target plan at 51-thousand but it exceeded its target to 73-thousand-152. She added that the target set for sanitation in the urban areas was seven-thousand-384 and the rural areas was 19-thousand-762 and the planned target was 44-thousand-200 and exceeded its planned target to 27-thousand-146. Dr. Zakiya said Water Aid Ghana will support governments and service providers to develop their capacity to deliver safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation by the end of this year. 

WAG HEALTY START CAMPAIGN

                                                                   

Water Aid Ghana has launched its Healthy Start Advocacy Campaign. The four–year advocacy campaign seek to mobilize action to end child deaths, create concern about the health of the nation and find solutions to the problem. Explaining the campaign to the media, the Country Director at Water Aid Ghana, Dr. Afia Zakiya  said  the advocacy will focus on improving the health and nutrition of newborns and children under age five.

Water Aid Ghana is an International Non-Governmental Organization for the past years have been collaborating with other civic society organizations in Ghana and stakeholders to transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. The Country Director of Water Aid Ghana, Dr. Afia Zakiya said its main aim under the healthy start advocacy campaign is to contribute to the reduction of the newborn and child morbidity in Ghana.  She noted that access to clean water and safe sanitation are the basic right of every citizen, adding that  when these right are combined with good hygiene practices they constitute the essential building blocks for good health. Dr. Zakiya point out that poor hygiene practices, poor sanitation and unclean water have a negative impact on the health of individual particularly newborn and children. She started that according to  the Committing on Child  Survival Progress Report for 2014, globally five hundred thousand children under age five  die from diarrhea every year. She said fifty percent of these deaths are caused by infections related to poor environmental conditions. She said  these deaths can be reduce drastically if much attention is given  to the public health system.   Dr. Zakiya noted that in order to achieve this,

there is the need to give all children a health start by working with commitment and dedication for the transformation of the public health system.  The Head of Policy and Partnership at Water Aid Ghana, Musa Ibrahim noted that the time has come for Ghana to promote the global action plan for pneumonia and diarrhea as well as scaling up the nutrition plan. He said the Country needs to focus more on newborn health to urgently increase the newborn survival. The WASH and Health Focal Lead at the Water Aid Ghana Dr. Chaka Uzondu said that diarrhea is the third biggest killer of children under age five, and such there is the need to intensify the promotion on hygiene in the Country.  yvonnenyaku@wateraid.org

HEALTH

                                                                                                         

  The Tema Metropolitan Environmental Health Department is poised to intensify health inspection in the Tema region. It is also gearing up to increase awareness on sanitation practices to forestall the outbreak of communicable diseases. Apart from these, the Department is also focusing on the registration and screening of food vendors, whiles advocating for the supply of noise measuring instruments. The Head of the Tema Metropolitan Environmental Health Department, Edward Shardey, said this in an interview with Obonu News in Tema. Hagar Sey has the rest of the story.  

                                                   

The Department, over the years has been collaborating with private sector service providers, government agencies and the security services, to ensure sanity in the Metropolis. Mr. Shardey noted that for the Metropolis to achieve the needed environmental standard there is the need to intensify monitoring and supervision. He said the Assembly will enforce the District Assembly bye-laws as well as intensify investigations and conflict management. According to him, the Metropolis recorded 965 cholera cases last year; saying out of the number, 561 were males, which is the highest ever recorded in the metropolis. He added that the Department embarked on several awareness programmes last year, to educate residents on cholera prevention and hygiene. He mentioned inadequate offices, lack of vehicle for special duties, arrest of stray animals, open defecation and lack of equipment to measure noise pollution among others as major challenge limiting the work of the Department. Mr. Shardy added that cholera outbreak; high infected organs of animal in meat inspection and refuse accumulation in the markets were also a challenge for the Department. He charged the Assembly to put in place measures to address the challenges confronting the Depart