The Afigya-Kwabre District Assembly has stepped up its efforts at improving environmental sanitation amid confirmed cases of cholera in parts of the Ashanti Region.

Mr Kwaku Oppong-Kyekyeku, District Chief Executive (DCE), said they did not want to take any chances and would do everything to completely shut it out.

Twelve cases of the infectious disease that causes severe diarrhoea, which can lead to dehydration and even death, had been reported in six districts – Kumasi, Asante-Akim Central, Kwabre East, Asante-Akim South, Ahafo-Ano South and Adansi South.

The DCE told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that they were beginning a “round-the-clock” evacuation of refuse in the various communities and strengthening measures to promote proper waste disposal.

Environmental health officers are combining public education and enforcement of the assembly’s sanitation by-laws to get people to take responsibility for keeping their surroundings clean.

He warned that offenders would be prosecuted to halt the careless disregard and poor attitude towards the environment.

The GNA was in the area under STAR-Ghana’s media auditing and tracking of development projects, an initiative launched to put a spotlight on how government’s resources were helping to transform the lives of the people, particularly the rural population.

The goal is to aid transparency, promote accountability and good governance.

Mr Oppong-Kyekyeku urged the people to make sure that sanitation facilities including public toilets were kept neat.

They should all accept to work together to make the district safe from diseases and observe good personal hygiene, he said.

Cholera, a bacterial infection, is caused by the drinking of contaminated water or eating food that has been in contact or prepared with contaminated water.

It can spread if food or water becomes contaminated with faecal matter of someone with the infection.