Global experts push Ghana to scale up wastewater disease surveillance systems
Leading scientists, policymakers and public health experts have called for increased investment in and integration of wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) into national health systems to strengthen global disease detection and response.
The call was made at the end of the Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance (WES) Conference 2026, held in Accra under the theme: “Harnessing Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance – A One Health and Disease Control Tool”.
The conference brought together representatives from 31 countries, with 178 in-person participants and more than 400 daily virtual attendees drawn from Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Wastewater surveillance as early warning tool
A statement issued at the end of the conference noted that participants highlighted WES as a cost-effective, non-invasive early warning system for detecting infectious diseases, including emerging and re-emerging pathogens.
It further indicated that evidence presented at the conference showed wastewater data can complement clinical surveillance, improve outbreak preparedness and support timely public health interventions.
Participants also raised concerns over the heavy reliance on donor funding for WES activities in many low- and middle-income countries, urging governments to prioritise domestic financing, capacity building and policy integration.
Calls for stronger collaboration
Delivering the keynote address, WHO Technical Lead on Sanitation and Wastewater, Kate Medlicott, stressed that wastewater surveillance can generate critical trend data even in the absence of clinical reporting.
She further called for stronger multi-sector collaboration and the adaptation of WES systems to local contexts to ensure effectiveness and sustainability.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to integrating WES into national disease control strategies, noting its success in supporting polio eradication efforts and its potential to address a wider range of public health threats.
Key recommendations
At the close of the conference, participants made several recommendations, including the adoption of WES as a core component of the One Health approach and its integration into national surveillance systems.
They also called for strengthened research on cost-effectiveness to inform policy, development of sustainable financing mechanisms, and increased investment in technical and laboratory capacity.
In his closing remarks, Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo, the immediate past Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), who chaired the conference, called for scalable and sustainable WES systems to enhance global health security.
The organisers expressed appreciation to partner institutions, including KNUST, the Ghana Health Service, the World Health Organization (WHO), the University of Ghana, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, the Environmental Protection Agency, Scripps Research, the Ministry of Health, and the Gates Foundation.
