Accra, March 29, GNA - Mr Peter Hawkins, Environmental Consultant of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, on Wednesday said environmental sanitation is essential for promoting the healthy and productive welfare of Ghanaians.

Mr Hawkins said this at the beginning of a three-day workshop for Environmental Journalists under the theme "Communication for Urban Environmental Sanitation".

Many diseases, he noted, are related to poor environmental sanitation, especially in urban areas, as the high concentration of people provides more opportunities for infections to spread from one individual to another.

He said diarrhoea, dysentery, intestinal parasites, typhoid and cholera are all due to contamination by excreta, adding that these can be controlled by the use of safe and hygienic toilets with adequate treatment and disposal of toilet waste and by the use of water for personal and domestic hygiene.

He attributed the presence of endemic cholera and typhoid in low-income urban neighbourhoods to lack of domestic toilets in many homes, insanitary public toilets and widespread "free range" defecation. Mr Hawkins said diseases such as malaria, elephantiasis and yellow fever are spread by different types of mosquitoes but explained that all these could be controlled by environmental sanitation measures.

Another aspect of environmental sanitation is the management of solid and liquid waste, he said, adding that every man, woman and child produces about half a kilogram of solid waste daily, which is equivalent to one or two tonnes by an average family in a year.

The total solid waste produced in urban areas comes to over one million tonnes per year and is expected to rise to almost three million tonnes by 2020. Mr Hawkins explained that the central government had demonstrated its commitment to environmental sanitation through the launching of a national environmental sanitation policy in 1999.

The policy is aimed at developing and maintaining a clean, safe and pleasant physical environment in all human settlements to promote the social, economic and physical well-being of all sections of the population. It also comprises a number of complementary actions such as the construction and maintenance of sanitary infrastructure, provision of services, public education, community and individual action, regulation and legislation.

He said improper waste disposal by one individual affects all community members. Therefore, ensuring good sanitation is the responsibility of all citizens, communities, private sector and all stakeholders. Mr Hawkins said the establishment of community environmental sanitation norms, and hygienic education to create awareness as enshrined in the government environmental sanitation policy was laudable.