Mind Development Foundation (MDF), a non-governmental organisation in health, has organized an anti-cholera sensitization workshop for some selected schools in the Ashaiman Municipality.
Mr. Samuel Martey Baddoo, Executive Director of MDF, speaking at the workshop said Cholera remains a global threat.
The theme for the workshop is “Mobilising Our Resources to Facilitate for Clean and Healthy Environment.”
“While the disease no longer poses a threat to countries with minimum standards of hygiene, it remains a challenge to countries where access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation cannot be guaranteed,” he said.
He said reports from Ghana Health services indicated hundreds of cases were reported at health posts on daily basis and some dying as a result.
Mr. Baddoo said the real solution to this epidemic may not necessarily be medication but rather promoting good hygiene practices and providing potable drinking water within communities.
He said the foundation in collaboration with like minded individuals and Zoomlion were embarking on awareness creation on Cholera with peer educators, school children and affected communities.
He called on benevolent orgnaisations to support the activities of the foundation to better empower the children with the needed information to fight cholera.
Mrs Linda Kambe, Ashaiman Municipal Disease Control Officer, took the school children through the cause and prevention of the disease like improper waste disposal, the need for personal hygiene, washing of hands with soap and proper refuse disposal.
She said last year the municipality recorded 16 cases of cholera compared to this year's four and two was positive.
Mrs Kambe said she believed that most of the cholera cases were not being reported looking at the unclean nature of the communities.
She added that “the municipality is at risk due to the unclean nature of the environment and the improper drainage systems with open gutters.”
She said, her outfit has a strategic plan designed to engage the general public in public education to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
Mr. Ben Ofori-Koreanteng, Board Chairman of MDF, said the foundation was collaborating with other NGOs in health to disseminate information to school children on sanitation and hygiene.
He said the issue of cleanliness should be the concern of everybody in the communities, since cholera could affect anybody.
He noted that MDF was dedicated to helping young children discover and develop their potential through education and seminars on health.**
