The Effutu Municipal Chief Executive, Nii Ephraim, has expressed the need for Ghanaians to commend the government for recognising the importance of sanitation as one of its priorities.

Nii Ephraim made the call at a performance review meeting of the Environmental Health Unit of the Effutu Municipal Assembly at Winneba.

The programme was under the theme; “Achieving open defecation-free in Effutu Municipality through Community-led total sanitation,” organised by the Environmental Unit in collaboration with the Assembly.

He appealed to the environmental staffs who are frontline health officers to take up the challenge and prove to Ghanaians that they are good as the “Samansaman” of old to help rid the communities of filth.

According to Nii Ephraim, the Effutu Assembly is making all efforts to improve sanitation in the municipality in order to achieve the sanitation management target of 54 percent by 2015.

“This seems a herculean task but I believe with commitment and tenacity of purpose we can,” he said.

He therefore reminded the Environmental Officers that the people look up to them to make the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) sustainable by helping to reduce if not prevented about 75 percent sanitary-related diseases that are reported at health facilities.

Mr William Freeman Goku, Effutu Municipal Environmental Director, malaria topped the list of environmentally-related diseases in the municipality, adding that a total of 37,397 malaria cases were recorded in 2012 as against 13,084 in 2011.

Source: GNA