Youth to play lead role in sanitation efforts
An assembly of youth which goes by the name Youth Forum on Environmental Sanitation (YouthFES) has been launched in Accra by the African Centre for Culture, Tourism and Human Development (ACCTHUD). The forum has the objective of bringing together student leaders in secondary and tertiary institutions and development partners in the community.
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The YouthFES is motivated to ensure behavioural change among the population, particularly the youth, with regard to the maintenance of good sanitation and personal hygiene practices.
In addition, the club seeks to stimulate communities into action in support of the National Sanitation Day (NSD) initiatives established by the government.
YouthFES
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Executive Director of ACCTHUD, Eric Adzor-Daniels, said the youth had a significant role to play in getting people to practise good personal hygiene. He said one way they could do this was to distribute educational materials on sanitation to schools and communities.
He said such a move could prevent hundreds of deaths that occurred every year from hygiene related causes as well as contribute to environmental cleanliness.
He, therefore, urged all development partners, particularly agencies in local government, to support the YouthFES initiative, adding that “environmental cleanliness is not work for the government alone, but for all citizens as well”.
Waste management
The Environmental Sanitation Manager for Zoomlion Limited, Mr Robert Adjei, observed that waste management, a vital component of environmental sanitation, had been a major problem of successive governments and local authorities.
It was commendable nonetheless, he said, that the current revised environmental sanitation policy acknowledged private sector involvement and community participation as essential for both rural and urban communities.
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He said some major factors that affected progress in environmental sanitation currently included demographic changes and flourishing urbanisation.
He said any talk of development in political and growth debates in the country must make environmental sanitation an important part of it.
He explained that environmental sanitation was important because it improved health, generated economic benefits and contributed to social development.
According to Mr Adjei, Zoomlion would direct its attention to environmental sanitation and hygiene in communities in which it operated.
“In this direction, we shall work at streamlining our relationship with other private sector organisations in order to achieve a lasting impact,” he said.