The Director of Public Health at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Florence Kuukyi, has sounded the alarm on Accra’s deteriorating sanitation situation, cautioning that the rising levels of waste now pose a serious danger to both public health and air quality.
She disclosed that air pollution claims more than 28,000 lives annually in Ghana — the equivalent of one death every 19 minutes.
Calling the situation “disheartening,” Ms. Kuukyi explained that indiscriminate waste disposal, open defecation, and uncontrolled burning of rubbish are driving outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid, while also contaminating the very air residents depend on.
“This is leading to several diseases, not just diarrhoea and typhoid. It also has an impact on the air you breathe.
Studies have it that in Ghana, over 28,000 people die prematurely due to air pollution. This means that in every 19 minutes, somebody dies due to air pollution,” she said.
The AMA Public Health Director emphasized that sanitation should be regarded as a shared national duty, not a burden left solely to government.
“Sanitation in the country is a collective and collaborative effort. Everyone has a role to play when it comes to sanitation issues.
In Ghana, we are practising the ‘pollutant pay’ system the persons who generate the waste must pay for it to be disposed of. That is where the issues come in.
People generate waste and do not want to take on that responsibility, and they want to push everything on the government,” she explained.
Ms. Kuukyi appealed to residents to take ownership of the waste they produce and to cooperate with city authorities in keeping Accra clean and safe.
She cautioned that without immediate intervention, deaths linked to poor sanitation and pollution will continue to rise, threatening both public health and the quality of life in the capital.
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