Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS)
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, has asked authorities in charge of education to start teaching Kindergarten kids sanitation related issues.
According to him, when these kids are taught the need to keep their surroundings clean, it will benefit the entire country as they grow.
He also indicated that in order to deal with the sanitation problem in the country, there need to be attitudinal change among Ghanaians.
He said although waste management companies are tasked to keep the environment clean, it is also incumbent on the citizens to desist from actions that will litter their surroundings.
Dr Nsiah-Asare told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Monday March 12 that : “We need to start training Ghanaians on sanitation issues right at the Kindergarten.
“Countries that have been able to deal with sanitation problems involved children in the campaign against filth. Here in Ghana some parents send children to dump refuse into gutters and other unapproved areas but when these children are educated on sanitation they will resist that action from their parents.”
He added: “We should accept that filth will continue to live with us if we don’t change our attitudes towards sanitation. Now we are a middle income economy and so we can compare ourselves to countries like Malaysia, Singapore and the rest but these countries have dealt with filth and so they don’t have cholera, typhoid and some of these sanitation related diseases.”
