The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has urged all sub-metros to intensify their efforts at monitoring sanitary conditions to forestall a re-occurrence of cholera outbreak this year.
They have been also asked to enforce the relevant bye-laws for food vendors to comply with proper and hygienic handling of food.
Numo Blafo Omeatu III, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the AMA, who gave the directive in a statement, said the assembly has intensified its education on good sanitation practices to help eliminate cholera.
He said the education also focuses on factors that militate against the development of the metropolis.
Numo Blafo said the observation of basic personal hygiene such as boiling of water before drinking, eating of cooked food while hot, avoiding food being sold along gutters and thorough washing of fresh fruits and vegetables are all in the best interest of the people.
He said the AMA has requested the Ghana Education Service to ensure that all children are taught to wash their hands thoroughly before eating and after visiting the toilet.
Numo Blafo appealed to the communities to be proactive to the current unhealthy practices associated with indiscriminate defecating and dumping of refuse into drains.
“The AMA will ensure that all refuse contractors collect refuse regularly from every community whilst residents are advised to register with the accredited waste contractors in their sub-metro for the collection of their solid waste to avoid arrest and prosecution,” he said.
The PRO said even though the rains have not set in and there is no reported case of cholera, “we cannot be complacent about it as it could happen and spread faster, hence the need for effective sustainable awareness, as well as the promotion of hygiene among the people to take proper food preservation seriously in homes and other places”.
Numo Blafo said the AMA has a strong commitment, effective and sustained hygiene education to change the behaviours of the people to enable each of them become a little more sensitive and conscious about his or her environment to avoid frequent visit to hospitals.
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