Speaking at a forum organized by Safe Water Network, the Minister underscored the need for accessible water to all, insisting the necessary mechanisms are being put in place.

[contextly_sidebar id=”NpYL2yg6u23T0355ZvtnEOAYLGv4PKuY”]“Access to basic social service including water supply remains a key prior for government, and we are committed to achieving our vision of providing safe reliable water for all as part of our agenda.”

He said government is addressing all the operational, technical and financial barriers to make water accessible to all.

“Experience from partners such as Safe Water Network has taught us that having water facilities alone is not enough, but facilities have to deliver safe, reliable and affordable water service,” he added.

Mr. Kofi Adda and management of Ghana Water Company Limited  GWCL were expected to brief the Parliamentary Select Committee on Works and Housing Committee on the water situation in the country, and also outline plans put in place to address the problem last month.

Late in January, GWCL announced that water supply in most parts of the country was to be rationed to ensure equitable distribution.

According to the company, it was experiencing some challenges with water supply in Accra and most parts of the country due to the onset of the dry season.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonlie.com/Ghana

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Mr. Adda has been criticized for doing little with some calling for his head especially at a time when the President has pledged to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his first term in office.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Dcp5nmWnymohlr9ySFn2PHTiQoLgLVCA”]But speaking to Citi News, the Sanitation Minister said he has enough logistics to improve the sanitation situation, and remains committed to making a difference.

“I am committed to it as charged by the President, and I am also committing to it because of the plans and resources being pledged to get the work done, and I am sure we will turn the country into a different place by June,” he said.

He also noted that the orientation, community sensitization together with support from Ghanaians, would go a look way to help achieve this by the end of June.

I have only eight staff  – Kofi Adda

Despite the enormous task of fulfilling a pledge by President Akufo-Addo to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, which is responsible for making this happen has only eight employees.

This, according to the sector Minister, Kofi Adda, is a big challenge because the issue of inadequate staff is not “good enough” for the huge task on them.

“I started the ministry with just about four officers… Now we are up to about eight. That is certainly not enough,” Kofi Adda said.

Social and political non-partisan pressure group, OccupyGhana, has asked the government to pay serious attention to the overwhelming filth in the country.

According to them, the rate at which waste is engulfing the country is alarming, and something must be done immediately to prevent potentially disastrous health and security problem to the country.

“OccupyGhana has noted with concern the huge swathes of plastic and other solid and human waste engulfing our country, especially our capital. It is rapidly reaching an alarming state.We have also been monitoring how the matter of sanitation is being addressed by Government and we are concerned about Government’s commitment to resolving it.”

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Minister, Kofi Adda, and management of GWCL, are expected to brief the Committee on the water situation in the country, and also outline plans put in place to address the problem.

[contextly_sidebar id=”vAaopnhk89mhh5gNn1ypD3unxePxu2Hz”]The company cited the dry season and the pollution of the country’s water bodies as the cause of the water shortage.

The Chairman of the Works and Housing Committee of Parliament, Nana Amoako, speaking to Citi News ahead of the meeting, indicated that all the Committee is seeking was disclosure on the real state of affairs.

“We want to know from them the measures they have put in place… and what is causing this water shortage. We want to really find out from them because sometimes, we have to really hear from their side what is really happening over there.”

Late in January, GWCL announced that water supply in most parts of the country will be rationed to ensure equitable distribution.

According to the company, it was experiencing some challenges with water supply in Accra and most parts of the country due to the onset of the dry season.

The situation has led to intermittent water supply in most cities and towns in the country.

A statement released by the management of GWCL advised the general public to be measured in their consumption of water, while the Water Company addresses the challenges.

“It must be emphasized that during this season, a number of consumers resort to the use of treated water for keeping lawns green, for commercial washing of vehicles etc. The dry season is on and consumers with greater dependence on rainwater have also compounded the problem by taking to treated water use. These practices ease the pressures in the pipelines thereby causing low pressure and no flow in some areas, especially areas located in high elevations,” GWCL also explained in the statement.

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Ministry on Wednesday held a forum for stakeholders within the sector where it was announced that a new master plan known as the Integrated Urban Environmental Sanitation Master Plan (IUESMP), is being put up to manage sanitation issues in the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WdccKtkJOeUa5gpQ6jwO9Bt14Sj7vlkF”]The $3-million initiative is being funded by the World Bank as part of a Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) project.

The memorandum of understanding for the project was signed between the government and World Bank in October 2017, with the project expected to be completed in 18 months.

Some Ghanaians have raised concerns over the new plans requesting to know the rationale behind it when many of such plans already abound in the sector.

But responding to the issue on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, Raymond Ayilu, the Personal Assistant to the Sanitation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, said the new master plan will realign all other strategies.

“We have not stopped the implementation of what we already have, that is what is currently guiding us in our activities. It is not like we have put on hold all previous plans and then we are waiting to do something new to be able to leverage on that and move ahead…we are working with the existing plans that we have.”

“But like I said, these were different documents handled or done by different institutions. But now we have a ministry that wants to coordinate and realign all these things into one master plan or document that can guide all the various stakeholders and focus on the different facets of waste management being solid waste, liquid waste, industrial waste, chemical waste – so you have to bring all these things under one document that can easily at a click tell us where we are going as a country, and this is what we are doing now,” he added.

He further clarified that, some of the existing documents need to be reviewed and updated because there are new challenges.

Mr. Ayilu added that, the master plan will seek to rectify all such issues.

“We are implementing what we have already,  but all the previous plans need regular updates… You cannot just do a plan and that is it. We are having to face new challenges so periodically you need to review and update your plans,” he added.

The new sanitation master plan comes at a time the country is battling with filth and insanitary conditions in the country.

President Nana Akufo-Addo has promised to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the year 2020.

But some Ghanaians seem not to believe the promise due to the amount of filth on streets and vantage points in the capital city, Accra.

Click below for the full interview on the Citi Breakfast Show: 

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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Mr. Adda says the project was the brainchild of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration under President Kufour.

“This project started in 2008; a delegation including myself and current President Akufo went to the Far East and China to look for funds for this project.”

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper West Region has chided President Akufo-Addo for failing to give former President Mahama credit for the project which was commissioned on Monday.

President Akufo-Addo at the commissioning of the project on Monday, said, “it was in his (President Kufuor’s) time that the financing for this project was secured, as far back as 2008. But, unfortunately, after he left [office in 2008], it took five years under the NDC successor governments before the construction of the project began.”

President Akufo-Addo added that “God has his own way of doing things. A project that was started by Kufuor is going to be commissioned by Akufo-Addo. That is the way the Almighty works” he said.

But the NDC says the project was started by them under President Mahama. The party in a statement signed by the Upper West Regional Director of Communications, Issaku Issa Jerry, said “President Akufo Addo is deceiving Ghanaians to score cheap political points.”

He added that “President Akufo Addo and the NPP must provide evidence that the project started under Kufour.”

But speaking to Citi News, Joseph Kofi Adda said the NDC has no hand in the project.

“It’s surprising NDC wants to lay claim over this project. Where were they when we conceived the idea to provide the people of Wa with water.”

The $55.50 million water project at Jambusie, which was constructed with a facility from the Korean Exim Bank, will supply 3.3 million gallons of water per day to the 100,705 residents of Wa.

President Akufo-Addo urged residents of Wa to “look after the project and make sure you use the water with care. Turn off the taps [when not in use], continue to conserve water, and settle the little bills that would come, so that the project would continue to run and provide you with the service.”

The President commissioned the project on Monday as part of two-day tour of the region.
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By: Sammy Wiafe/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This, he assured, would help Ghana effectively manage waste, and also go a long way to improve the water situation.

The issue of collection, management, and disposal of solid waste, continues to be a challenge for several cities across the country.

The contamination of water bodies; leading to the spread of water-borne diseases, is also another headache for government.

Mr. Adda, who was speaking at the opening of the 2017 Sector Strategic Stakeholders workshop of the Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry, also disclosed that as part of government’s plans to manage waste effectively; it will build two waste management plants in all ten regions of the country.

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By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t to develop -3year strategic plan for water, sanitation – Adda appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Minister was addressing a group of African Water, construction and building experts at this year’s three-day Water Africa and West Africa Building and Construction Trade seminar and exhibition.

The event organised by ACE event management, a UK-based organisation was on the theme: “Ghana’s Urban and Rural Water and Sanitation Challenge in the 21st Century.”

The event was aimed at creating a two-way flow of information for the visitors and participants to help them analyse their sector needs and take steps for expansion and improvement.

Mr Adda explained that the quest for increased access to safe water formed part of the government’s vision to improve health outcomes for economic growth and development.

Mr Adda said Ghana had chalked out very encouraging improvements over the years in the water sector.

“The Joint Monitoring Platform (JMP) by WHO and UNICEF stated that Ghana and the world at large has managed to reduce by half the number of people using unimproved sources of drinking water.

“Indeed the 2015 JMP updated report states that 89 per cent of Ghana’s population has access to improved water source,” he said.

However, he said, the country had suffered delays in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the area of sanitation, which was quite worrying.

“Whereas water sector achieved its target, basic sanitation lagged far behind with a coverage rate of 15 per cent as against an MDG target of 54 per cent (Joint Monitoring Platform Updates, 2015),” he said.

The report also indicated that there is currently a deficit of 4,000,000 toilets, which according to the Minister, is likely to increase as the country’s population is growing.

“As at 2015, 19 per cent of Ghana’s of Ghana’s population still practices open defecation, as sad reality,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the USAID WASH for Health Annual Report 2015 published in 2016 puts Ghana as the 5^th cholera-endemic country in the world.

He blamed these problems on the public mismanagement of solid waste and the menace of illegal mining and said the country could only achieve its water and sanitation sector target if it combated poor sanitation practices among the people and clamped down on illegal mining.

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Source: GNA

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The panel of medical experts met in Geneva to discuss the merits of using untested drugs.

Some 1,013 people have died from the virus in West Africa.

The move came as Liberia announced it was set to receive an experimental drug, Zmapp, after requests made to the US government.

The WHO said it had been persuaded to recommend the move because of the scale of the outbreak and large number of deaths.

Where experimental treatments are used there must be informed consent and the results of the treatment collected and shared, the WHO said.

In a statement, it added: “In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention.”

Last week the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak was a global health emergency.

What drugs exist currently ?

There a handful of drugs that have been shown to work well in animals.

One is Zmapp – the drug requested by the Liberian government. This contains a cocktail of antibodies which attack proteins on the surface of the virus.

Only one experimental drug has moved into early human testing. Known as TKM-Ebola this interrupts the genetic code of the virus and prevents it from making disease causing proteins.

The drug was tested on healthy human volunteers at the beginning of 2014 but the American medicines regulator asked for further safety information. The drug company says human trials may soon resume.

Vaccines to protect against acquiring the disease have also been shown to work in primates. American authorities are considering fast-tracking their development and say they could be in use in 2016.

But experts say ultimately the only way to be sure a drug or vaccine is effective is to see if it works in countries affected by Ebola.

Meanwhile, the Liberian Government said experimental drugs will be brought into the country later this week – although manufacturer Mapp Biopharmaceutical warned supplies are limited.

Zmapp has been used on two US aid workers who have shown signs of improvement. A Roman Catholic priest, infected with Ebola in Liberia, who died after returning home to Spain is also thought to have been given the drug.

However, the drug has only been tested on monkeys and has not yet been evaluated for safety in humans.

‘Hard place’

There is no cure for Ebola, which has infected at least 1,779 people since the outbreak was first reported in Guinea in February.

The Liberian government said it was aware of the risks associated with Zmapp, but the alternative was to allow many more people to die.

“The alternative for not testing this is death, a certain death,” Information Minister Lewis Brown told the BBC.

“This is not even the rock and the hard place for us.

“We think those who have been infected should be given the chance to have that tested on them if they give their consent to do so.

“We know there may be risks associated with it,” the minister added, “but choosing a risk and choosing dying I am sure many would prefer to see that risk happen”.

Ebola’s initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment

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Source: BBC

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The meeting – being held in Geneva, Switzerland – is expected to last two days and will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.

That could involve imposing travel restrictions on affected areas.

The outbreak began last February and has since spread to four African countries, claiming nearly 900 lives.

It comes as leading infectious disease experts have called for experimental treatments to be offered more widely.

Two US aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia appear to be improving after receiving an unapproved medicine before being evacuated back to the US.

But it is not clear if the ZMapp drug, which has only been tested on monkeys, can be credited with their improvement.

Prof Peter Piot, who co-discovered Ebola in 1976, Prof David Heymann, the head of the Centre on Global Health Security, and Wellcome Trust director Prof Jeremy Farrar said there were several drugs and vaccines under study for possible use against Ebola.

“African governments should be allowed to make informed decisions about whether or not to use these products – for example to protect and treat healthcare workers who run especially high risks of infection,” they wrote in a joint statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO), “the only body with the necessary international authority” to allow such experimental treatments, “must take on this greater leadership role”, they said.

“These dire circumstances call for a more robust international response,” they added.

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Source: BBC

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She told a summit of regional leaders that failure to contain it could be “catastrophic” in terms of lives lost.

But she said the virus, which has claimed 729 lives in four West African countries since February, could be stopped if well managed.

Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected.

It spreads by contact with infected blood, bodily fluids, organs – or contaminated environments.

Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.

Dr Chan was meeting the leaders of the worst-affected countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – to launch a new $100m (£59m; 75m euro) Ebola response plan.

Ebola since 1976

“This meeting must mark a turning point in the outbreak response,” Dr Chan said at the summit in Guinea’s capital, Conakry.

“Cases are occurring in rural areas which are difficult to access, but also in densely populated capital cities,” she said, explaining that the outbreak was the world’s deadliest and largest in terms of geographical areas.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be virus’ natural host

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Source: BBC

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