The Director of Public Health at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Florence Kuukyi, has sounded the alarm over the worsening sanitation conditions in Accra, warning that the situation poses an increasing threat to public health due to air pollution, and the environment.
According to Ms. Kuukyi, the growing levels of filth across the city are not only fuelling outbreaks of cholera and other sanitation-related diseases but are also contributing to deteriorating air quality in the capital.
Citing recent data, she revealed that air pollution is responsible for more than 28,000 deaths in Ghana each year — the equivalent of one death every 19 minutes.
Describing the trend as “disheartening,” she called on all relevant institutions and citizens to act swiftly and collaboratively to reverse the decline.
“This is leading to a number of diseases, not just the diarrhoea and the typhoid you mentioned. It also has an impact on the air you breathe. Studies have it that in Ghana, over 28,000 people die prematurely due to air pollution. This means that in every 19 minutes, somebody dies due to air pollution,” she said.
Ms. Kuukyi emphasized that maintaining proper sanitation is a shared responsibility among government agencies, private waste management companies, and residents.
“Sanitation in the country is a collective and collaborative effort. Everyone has a role to play when it comes to sanitation issues. In Ghana, we are practicing the ‘pollutant pay’ system — the persons who generate the waste must pay for it to be disposed of. That is where the issues come in. People generate waste and do not want to take on that responsibility, and they want to push everything on the government,” she explained.
She further appealed to residents to take personal ownership of the waste they produce and to work closely with city authorities to make Accra cleaner and safer for all.
