Ghana’s persistent struggle with rampant filth and poor environmental management is silently claiming lives and placing an unbearable burden on the nation’s healthcare infrastructure, Dr (Med) Justice Yankson, former General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), has revealed.
Dr (Med) Yankson issued this stark warning on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show today, Wednesday, June 24, unequivocally labelling poor sanitation as a major health threat.
Dr (Med) Yankson expressed profound concern over the pervasive environmental degradation, particularly the accumulation of waste.
He highlighted the cyclical nature of preventable disease outbreaks that stem directly from this crisis.
“I mean, last year, for example, virtually a greater part of the society was battling things like cholera, and in the process, a lot of people were killed,” he lamented.
He noted that these devastating outbreaks recur “sporadically or year after year”, causing significant loss of life whenever they intensify.
The human cost of Ghana’s sanitation crisis is profound.
Cholera, a disease directly linked to contaminated water and food, remains a recurring threat.
Major outbreaks, such as the one in 2014, affected over 28,000 people and claimed 243 lives nationwide.
While the number of cholera cases significantly dropped after 2016, the underlying poor sanitation conditions persist, making the population vulnerable to resurgence, as seen in localised outbreaks.
Beyond cholera, Dr (Med) Yankson pointed to a spectrum of gastrointestinal infections that constantly challenge health facilities.
“When you are in the clinics, you are there and virtually every day somebody will present with one form of gastrointestinal infection or the other and when you go through the… history, you do the test and what have you, it’s very clear it’s a contamination around us.”
He directly attributed many of these illnesses to unsafe food practices and widespread contamination. “People are eating contaminated food, food is not, I mean, sold under the right hygienic conditions. People are supposed to be tested before they even sell food, but nothing happens.”
He even extended his critique to establishments that should uphold higher standards, stating, “even so-called top restaurants, sometimes you go to them and the kitchens are full of filth, rats.”
This highlights a systemic breakdown in hygiene standards across the food chain.
Dr (Med) Yankson passionately argued that Ghana’s “failure in environmental management and harmony is actually putting a lot of burden on the health care system.”
This burden is not just in treating patients, but also in the long-term impact on public health and national productivity.
The World Bank estimates that poor sanitation costs Ghana approximately 1.6% of its GDP annually, translating to about US$290 million, through premature deaths, healthcare expenditures, and productivity losses.
He contrasted Ghana’s situation with other nations that have successfully eradicated many of these preventable diseases through effective sanitation management.
“These are things that elsewhere they have been able to manage sanitation, the filth around us, to a point where some of these diseases don’t exist anymore,” he observed, urging Ghana to learn from these examples.
Dr (Med) Yankson called for a fundamental re-evaluation of national priorities, emphasising that beyond non-communicable diseases and vaccine-preventable illnesses, the environmental aspect, particularly sanitation, demands urgent and sustained attention.
“We are in a certain state where we really need to pause and address some of these issues. They are very important.”
Ghana still faces significant challenges in achieving universal access to basic sanitation.
As of 2021, only about 25.3% of the population had access to improved sanitation facilities that are not shared, and a staggering 17.7% of the population still practised open defecation, primarily in rural areas.
This widespread lack of proper waste disposal and toilet facilities contributes directly to the contamination of water sources and the general environment, fuelling the cycle of disease.
Dr (Med) Yankson’s stern warning serves as a clarion call for immediate, decisive action, stressing that until Ghana effectively tackles its sanitation crisis, preventable illnesses will continue to undermine public health and socio-economic development.
