Sanitation guards selected from eight districts in the Eastern Region on Monday ended a day's orientation workshop on the socio-economic implication of environmental sanitation on the nation.
The districts are Kwahu West, Kwahu South, Kwahu North, Birim South, Birim North, Fanteakwa, Atiwa and East Akim.
The workshop, organized by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment was to empower the sanitation guards to educate the youth to avoid pollution to reduce the high rate of environmental related diseases in the country.
The participants were taken through topics like the socio-economic implications of sanitation and health, roles and responsibilities of sanitation guards, statutory provisions on environmental sanitation and code of ethics of sanitation guards.
Addressing the participants at Nkawkaw, Naa Lenason Demedeme, a director in-charge of environmental health and sanitation of the Ministry said between 70 to 80 percent morbidity and mortality diseases like malaria, diarrhoea and other communicable diseases were caused by poor sanitation.
He said such diseases in the community's affects the sustainability of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Mr Demedeme said tourism could also be affected if sanitation at the tourist centres were not improved to attract more tourists.
He said sanitation guards were going to support the staff of the environmental health offices to enforce sanitation laws and regulations.
They would also undertake education programmes as well as supervision and monitoring of sanitation services at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA).
In an address read on his behalf, the Kwahu West District Chief Executive, Nana Kofi Kesse said sanitation had become a major problem to all MMDAs in the country.
He said a greater percentage of the assembly's resources were allocated to sanitation programmes but the problems seemed to be getting worse daily.
Mr Kesse said that was the reason why the ministry had initiated the novel idea of reactivating the "samansaman" programmes in the districts to assist environmental officers to manage sanitation in their areas.
The Kwahu West District Youth Employment Co-coordinator, Mr Ernest Appiah-Ansong said over 600 youth had gained employment under the Community Education Teaching Assistants, Health Extension workers, Youth in agriculture business, community protection unit, sanitation and waste management under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).