Hundreds of residents in the Krachi East Municipality of the Oti Region have expressed fear over the likely outbreak of diseases as many pit latrines were submerged by flood waters.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA) saw some guest houses and washrooms along the riverbanks of Oti already contaminated by the flood.
Checks by the GNA revealed increased cases of typhoid being reported among residents in the Municipality.
Dr Mavis Marfo, the medical doctor of Dambai Health Centre, disclosed to the GNA that from August to October, this year, the facility recorded a total of 951 typhoid cases against a total of 565 recorded in the same period in 2022.
Madam Sybil Marie Boison, the Oti Regional Environmental Health Officer, in an interview with the GNA, said her office would work with the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Bernard Aborkugya Mensah for a lasting solution.
She said it was an eyesore to construct latrines along the riverbanks by putting the lives of those who used the water for domestic purposes at risk of g
etting infections and contracting waterborne diseases.
She said that the United Nations recognised access to water and sanitation as human rights issues and further as rights that were interlinked with the realisation of human dignity.
‘It is sad to say that due to the lack of access to toilet facilities, many people in every part of the country engage in open defecation, a practice that is an affront to the dignity of any civilised human society,’ she said.
Source: Ghana News Agency