WADA boss welcomes urban health initiative and expresses commitment to improving air quality in Accra

Regional news for Monday 8 February 2021

Source: Accra Metropolitan Assembly

02/08/2021

Accra Metropolitan Director General Mohammed Adjei Sowah pledged to ensure that the “ Urban Health Initiative ” achieves its goal of raising awareness and involving stakeholders to improve the quality of the air in the city.

According to him, the involvement of communities in the program had given hope for positive results to improve air quality in the city and reduce deaths and illnesses linked to air pollution in the city of Accra.

The mayor of Accra said this during the opening of a series of two-day Urban Health Initiative science and policy dialogues under the theme ‘Saving lives by linking health, environment and sustainable development ” to assess the progress of the Urban Health Initiative which has been piloted in the Greater Accra metropolitan area since 2018.

“The collaboration with WHO on the pilot program was educational … The participation of communities such as Korle Gonno, Mamprobi, Jamestown, Chorkor, among others, in the program gave us hope that the air quality in the city can be improved, ”he told me.

He pointed out that after an inventory to identify the sources of pollution in Accra, measures are being taken to solve the waste problems in the city, control traffic and ensure the safety of vehicles on the roads as well as promote fuel-efficient buildings. energy.

“In the area of ​​promoting energy efficient buildings, the Assembly introduced an incentive program to encourage developers to build green buildings by offering discounts on property rates and building permits. Depending on the package, developers get a 30-50% reduction on all property rates and building permits, ”he said.

He expressed the city’s appreciation for its support and called for more technical and non-technical assistance to help improve the lives of city dwellers.

Dr Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo, WHO Acting Country Representative in Ghana, in a speech read on his behalf, urged Ghanaians to adopt positive behaviors to reduce air pollution, improve urban health and alleviate the climate change.

She pointed out that the main drivers of environmental pollution in Ghana were rapid urbanization and population growth in cities such as Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.

Acting Director in charge of environmental quality at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr. Emmanuel Appoh said in a remark that around 4,600 people living in the metropolis of Accra are likely to die of conditions related to poor air quality, by 2030 if strict measures are not taken. taken to tackle the problem.

He revealed that his team was thus deploying interventions, including contributing to political decisions in various sectors of the economy, increasing awareness-raising activities, strengthening the capacities of environmental health officials, strengthening partnership to resolve the problem. problem.

Mr. Appoh said that the new Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Region (GAMA) and the Greater Accra Region, as well as the Action Plan for Health and pollution (HPAP) by the EPA would be a major game -change in the control of risk.

“We now have 15 air quality monitoring stations within GAMA, but 12 are operational and apart from that we have installed two modern monitoring equipment; one in Adabraka and the other on the University of Ghana (UG) campus to give us temporal data on air quality in the region for policy guidance, ”he said. .