AMA to organise clean-up exercise against cholera

Accra, March 30, GNA - The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in collaboration with the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council is to organise clean-up exercises in all the 11 Sub-Metropolitan areas as part of measures in curbing the cholera outbreak that had engulfed the metropolis. Nii Armah Ashietey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, who announced thi= s on Wednesday during a tour to some of the cholera endemic communities in th= e Accra Metropolis, expressed concern about the rate at which people were dying from the disease in Accra. Accompanied by officials from the AMA and the security agencies, the Minster visited Avenor and Kisseiman, all cholera endemic suburbs in Accra. At Avenor where 34 cholera cases have been recorded, Nii Ashietey called for the demolition of all illegal structures constructed around the drains in the areas.

"It's obvious those who live near these drains do not have toilet facilities and so their only places of convenience are the drains around,= " he explained. Nii Ashietey called for appropriate measures against those who flout rules and regulations governing sanitation in the country as it would help curb indiscipline as far as health was concerned. At Kisseiman where two cases had been reported, he expressed concern about the illegal connection of taps to drains in the areas through which human excreta passed. He urged the Public Health Directorate to endeavour to demolish all th= e illegal tap connections in order to stop people from contaminating the drains with liquid waste thereby increasing the chances of cholera infectio= n in the area.