Thirty two pupils selected from the ten regions of Ghana have gathered in Accra on Tuesday to discuss their ambassadorial roles to ensuring that water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities are made available and used properly in their schools as well as communities. They are expected to practice whatever they learn about WASH during this period at their various localities and schools. These young delegates would be taught how to keep their water sources clean, proper washing of hands with soap and water and also do a simple test to check the quality of the water they use. This two-day Children and Youth forum precedes the 4th Ghana Water Forum, which comes off from November 5 to 7 in Accra. It was on the theme: “The Role of Children and Youth in Sustaining Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.” Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda reiterated the dangers involved in resorting to open defecation in bushes, along the beaches and other unauthorised places. Citing that, the same faecal material was washed back into water sources and contaminates the entire water body, thereby, causing sicknesses. “There are also health risks when we also throw rubbish anyway and not at places where we are expected to dump them,” he said. Alhaji Dauda further cautioned that “when we do not practice good hygiene like washing our hands with soap and water at critical times (like after using the toilet and before we touch food), storing our water in clean containers, covering them and using clean cups to fetch the water, we are likely to contract diseases such diarrhoeal, cholera and worm infections.” There over one billion people in the world who do not have access to improved water supplysources. Some two million people also die yearly as a result of diarrhoeal disease infections, most of whom are children under five years. A speech delivered by the Acting Director of Children, Helena Obeng Asamoah on behalf of a Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Benita Okity-Duah observed that engaging children in dialogue and exchange enabled them to learn constructive ways of influencing the world around them. Children, according to her, are effective change agents and therefore, the forum would provide them the opportunity to learn and share. “It is expected that at the end of this forum, you will write a communiqué, which will represent the voices of all children in Ghana about your expectations and roles in the country’s WASH growth programme,” she indicated. The minister noted that the request for a communiqué from the children was important as the country endeavours to gain both national and international WASH targets, which required the support and efforts of all Ghanaians including “you children and youth.” World Vision Ghana’s National Director, Hubert Charles, on his part, explained that his outfit had been reaching out to over 1.5 million most vulnerable people, who have the least access to water and sanitation. He disclosed World Vision has spent more than $35 million in almost 20 years to provide vulnerable communities with water and sanitation facilities like boreholes, mechanized water systems and household latrines. These, he continued, had contributed greatly to the elimination of some water borne diseases, improved maternal and child health and improvements in the general well being of children in their 34 operational districts in the 10 administrative regions of Ghana.Nathaniel Yankson/GWJN