The devastating typhoid fever outbreak that has swept through parts of Ghana since January 2025, killing several people in the Oti Region, including a chief and two former District Chief Executives, has deeply alarmed the Unposted Environmental Health Officers and Assistants Association of Ghana.
The group expressed sympathy to the families of the deceased in a statement released on Monday, September 1, 2025, and called the epidemic a “preventable tragedy” brought on by years of disregard for the environmental health field. Citing the unemployment of graduates from the nation’s three Schools of Hygiene since 2021, the group charged that the government was neglecting to solve serious inadequacies in public health and sanitation.
“We hold the Government of Ghana accountable for this unfortunate situation, which has affected over 10, 233 individuals in the Oti Region,”
The devastating typhoid fever outbreak that has swept through parts of Ghana since January 2025, killing several people in the Oti Region, including a chief and two former District Chief Executives, has deeply alarmed the Unposted Environmental Health Officers and Assistants Association of Ghana.
The group expressed sympathy to the families of the deceased in a statement released on Monday, September 1, 2025, and called the epidemic a “preventable tragedy” brought on by years of disregard for the environmental health field.
Citing the unemployment of graduates from the nation’s three Schools of Hygiene since 2021, the group charged that the government was neglecting to solve serious inadequacies in public health and sanitation.
Typhoid, cholera, and malaria outbreaks have become a threat to the nation due to a lack of political will to transform the Environmental Health Directorate into a properly resourced body, the statement added.
In addition, the group expressed worries about the present situation, citing poor waste management, inadequate environmental health workers, and inadequate medical screening for food vendors as contributing reasons.
In recent remarks, Kwabena Oti Bless, the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Water and Sanitation, proposed raising the sanitation tax and elevating the Environmental Health Directorate to the status of an authority. They applauded his remarks. But they warned that without implementation, such pledges must not just be “political talk.”
To facilitate the quick posting of unemployed officials, the group called for the Ministries of Local Government, Health, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs, along with regional and district administrations, to provide financial clearance.
“As professionals, we are ready and willing to supplement the efforts of the overburdened officers currently on the field,” the statement read.
The association promised to keep up its advocacy for environmental health professionals’ rights and reaffirmed its commitment to promoting sanitation improvements across the country.
