Poor leadership is causing cholera death toll to rise- Sarah Yeboah

The CEO of Sangy Nursing Services, Mrs. Sarah Nana Yeboah has indicated that incompetence of Ghanaian leaders by failing to provide every citizen with potable water and good drainage system has paved way for the increase in number of people dying with Cholera.

She lamented that for decades Ghana has faced the difficulty of disposing waste due to poor systems and inadequate recycling plants in the country.

According to Dr. Ian Thompson, a professional landscape architect and town-planner, in 1985, Ghana with the assistance of the German government established formal Waste Management Department as a branch of the Accra Metropolitan Authority to dispose waste.

In 1999, a Canadian firm (City and Country Waste, CCW) was also given a monopoly to provide waste collection disposal services in the capital which only operated for a few years before the contract was abrogated.

The medical practitioner stressed that the Waste Management Departments including the Accra Metropolitan Assembly are leaving in their comfort zone because the higher authorities that are supposed to enforce them to work are also not to their responsibilities.

She said lack of proper management of waste in the country has left the ordinary Ghanaian with no option than to throw refuse in gutters which brings about the outbreak of Cholera.

Ghana has seen eruptions of the disease since the 1970s. Cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated water and food. It can be easily treated by oral rehydration fluids and can kill in hours If not treated.

A total of 9,542 cholera cases with 100 deaths were reported in Ghana in 2012, but no deaths were recorded in 2013, despite some reported cases of the disease in the country.

In 2011, 10,628 cholera cases with 105 deaths were reported.

Between 1970 and 2012, Ghana recorded a total of 5,498 cholera deaths, according to data compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Cholera is an acute diarrhea illness caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholera, which can result in a profound and rapidly progressive dehydration and death.

Human becomes the vehicle for spread when infected human faeces contaminate water and food of another person.

In an interview with XFM’s Kwaku David on the Xpress Breakfast Show, Mrs. Sarah Nana Yeboah disclosed how disappointed she is with Ghanaian leaders for still seeking help from other countries to eradicate Cholera in the system.