Ho-Ghana, July 29, GNA – Volta Regional Minister Dr Archibald Yao Letsa has launched an annual workshop for officers of the Environmental Health Department in the Volta Regional, with a call on the officers to rekindle the communal spirit for sanitation improvement.
He commended the conference initiative, saying it should become an opportunity to grow stakeholder collaboration for the attainment of clean health in homes and communities.
“Volta is now becoming the Region of Choice and environmental health offices are key to making the Region attractive,” Dr Letsa said.
The Minister said the environmental health unit contributed significantly to the Region’s development into a favoured destination for tourism and also for business.
Dr Letsa gave an assurance of the support of the Regional Co-ordinating Council the Municipal and District Assemblies.
Mrs Stella Kumedzro, Regional Environmental Health Officer (REHO), said the event had a purpose to unite, educate and inspire the more than 300 officers present, providing a platform for collaboration, networking, and exchange of knowledge.
She said the Department had crucial and wide branching roles in maintaining public health and protecting the environment, and that the conference would be used to draw stakeholder attention to its challenges, particularly staff strength.
The REHO, in a presentation, showed that the 354 staff for the Region struggled to keep up with the 1.9 million population and 500,000 households.
This represents a 1:4,687 ratio of service to the Region’s population, miles away from the 1:700 threshold by the WHO.
Mrs Kumedzro said the Region lacked vehicles for the Department, and “inadequate” funding affected the pursuit of sanitation activities and the regular training of staff.
She said the department had forward plans to intensify compliance with sanitation laws and would require support from stakeholders at all levels including political and traditional, noting persisting interference to the promotion of laws by the custodians of power.
The REHO said sanitation coverage for the Region stood at 56 per cent and said the Department would revive and expand the sanitation league tables, adding that community supervision and the inspection of sanitary facilities in schools would be enhanced.
She said staff would be motivated to drive efforts to attain full sanitation for the Region and would involve the institution of recognition and awards for the excelling.
“We have a race to run. By 2030 the Volta Region should be recording a 100 per cent sanitation coverage, and with adequate resources we should get there,” the REHO assured.
Madam Felicia Dapaah, Chief Director of the Office of the Local Government Service praised the Region for “the zeal” towards enhancing sanitation, and said the government appreciated the need to resource the department enough to match the threat of urbanisation.
She said the Service took note of the need for capacity building of sanitation officers and to provide logistics and tools including vehicles and PPEs and called on MMDEs to support the department meet training and other requirements.
The Chief Director said among the efforts, key should be the adaptation to modern technology to be able to keep pace with the dynamic world and deliver effectively and assured that the Service would support with needed investments in resources.
There was a presentation on the role of the environmental health officer in the attainment of the SDGs, presented by Mr. Kweku Quansah, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, who urged officers to enhance knowledge in all sectors of the environment and to leverage the quality network of authorities.
Officers from all 18 Municipalities and Districts in the Region came together in Ho on Thursday for the maiden Environmental Health Practitioners Conference – Volta, supported by the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), which was attended by related institutions, organisations and stakeholders.
The workshop was on the theme: “Resourcing the Environmental Health Practitioner for Improved Performances: A Panacea for Attaining the Targets of SDGs,” and had capacity building, as well as tailored workshops for select work areas.
There were also presentations of research by selected institutions, a handing over ceremony for the Region’s environmental health workers union, and a communique on the conference’s outcome was released on Friday.
