Households are where diseases are first contacted - Health professor

Kumasi, Aug. 05, GNA - Professor Emeritus Ofosu Amaah, President of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, has called on the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to target households if epidemics and other public health risks are to be reduced.

He said though poor external environmental conditions also contributed to the outbreak of diseases, the home is the first place where most infectious diseases were contacted due to the communal type of living in compound houses in which rooms, toilets, bath towels and bathrooms, among others were shared among a good number of people.

"These practices constituted epidemiological risks apart from the home also serving as a breeding ground for vermin's and other pests, which are vectors of dangerous diseases".

Prof. Amaah was delivering a keynote address at the 28th annual general conference of the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners in Kumasi on Friday on the theme, "Environment Sanitation and Health".

Quoting statistics to buttress his point, he said about 45 per cent of Ghanaians lived in compound houses where about five to six people lived in one room whiles 26 per cent lived in separate houses, about 80 per cent of households did not have toilets and so its numerous occupants disposed of faeces the insanitary way.

He said about 80 per cent of compound houses shared by humans and their livestock did not have enclosed kitchens and cooking was done in open spaces where the droppings of the livestock are scattered around. He said about 60 per cent of Ghanaian households used fuel wood for cooking, which emitted smoke likely to cause respiratory disorders when inhaled.

Prof Amaah said the statistics gave a disturbing picture of how diseases could spread over a wider area over a short period and called for personal hygiene to be practised in homes.

Dr Gladys Nortey Ashitey, Deputy Minister of Health, praised the Society for the efforts it made to "hold the fort" to save the lives of many Ghanaians when the entire public health sector grounded to a halt following the strike action of junior medical doctors a few months ago. She said her ministry has adopted a new paradigm under which health professionals and administrators are to ensure the promotion of healthy living and good habits in Ghanaians to prolong their lives.

Dr Ashitey said the new health policy which focuses on "prevention is better than cure" concept exposes the citizenry to freely choose between ill-health and diseases and that of adhering to healthy lifestyles and living in environmentally hygienic conditions. The Deputy Minister assured members of the Society of the preparedness of the Health Service to collaborate with them to find solutions to problems.

Speaking on the "Impact of Mining on the Environment and Remedial Measures, The AngloGold Experience", Mr Daniel Owiredu, Chief Executive Officer, AngloGold Ashanti, outlined interventions so far made by AngloGold under its "Sustainable Mining" policy to reclaim mined lands, improve the lives of the people in the operating communities whiles also protecting the mining environment from pollution.

He maintained that, "It is possible to mine in a sustainable manner without unnecessary permanent damage to the environment while at the same time bettering the lives of the people in host communities".