Kpalbi (N/R)- GNA - Mrs Cecilia Amoah, Chairperson of Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has appealed to people living in guinea worm endemic communities to boil their drinking water to get rid of water-borne diseases.

She said though the eradication of guinea worm was critical, it should not be done at the expense of other water-borne diseases. Mrs Amoah said this when she visited the Guinea Worm Containment Centre at Kpalbi in the East Gonja District on Monday.

She is in the region to inspect progress of work on HIPC/ Guinea Worm Eradication Programm Water Project.

At the Centre, 10 children between the ages of six and seven who were infested with guinea worm were undergoing treatment. By the statistics from the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme Office in Tamale, the village recorded seven guinea worm cases in 2002, 33 in 2003 and 37 in 2004.

Kpalbi, with 2,400 population, fetch drinking water from a dam. The Community has an influx of alien Fulani herdsmen with large drove of cattle and this brings a lot of pressure for water by the animals and human beings.

Later at a durbar of chiefs and people, Mrs Amoah expressed her dissatisfaction with the water situation and urged the contractor drilling the bore-holes in the area to speed up with work to provide potable water for the people.

She advised the children to avoid playing in standing water in order not to be infected with guinea worm.

She appealed to the people to send their children to school. At the centre, out of the 10 children, only four were attending school.