...CONCISE STRATEGY TO IMPROVE GHANA’S ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION PRESENTED BY: COSMAS LANKONO (B.Sc. CIVIL ENGINEERING) Tel: +233-26-294-8033 Email:c.lankono@gmail.com 1.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT (RECOGNITION) Most of our streets, market places and cab stations all have an unpleasant characteristic in common-choked open drains, garbage in plain sight, overflowing dustbins etc. Most Ghanaians especially those engaged in commercial activities on the street are not accustomed to the habit of keeping a tidy environment; walk into most cab stations to confirm. It is not uncommon to see trash being thrown out of cars in Ghana, the most common refuse constituent being the black polythene bags. The ugly truth of Ghana’s sanitation situation is that despite efforts by the government and NGOs towards creating a cleaner environment, the net effectiveness will always be infinitesimal since the main solution is to reach the mindset of the populace. Our very early Ghanaian civilization had a more domesticated lifestyle which did not include the use of less bio-degradable products such as plastics and polythene bags thus the adaptation to a modern lifestyle with regards to the management of modern waste products is clearly seen anytime we are on the streets. This concise strategy which blends entertainment with education is a sure way to effectively educate the populace with regards to a positive mindset tuning. For Ghana to attain full middle income status, the health of...
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...The importance of Personal Hygiene and Field Sanitation Staying Clean and conducting personal hygiene is a vital role in a Soldiers life. Soldiers may spend weeks in an environment where proper facailities are not established and it is vital that one stay clean to prevent illness because military units are unable to carry out their missions when the soldiers are weakened by disease. In all US conflicts three times as many soldiers have been lost to illnesses/diseases rather than battle wounds. The most common injuries that soldiers may face are heat, cold injuries and communicable diseases. Personal Hygeine and cleanliness are an extremley important role in a soldiers life and it is important to know when one is getting sick and how to prevent it. Heat injury is one of the most common among soldiers who have lived in a temperate climate their entire life. When they go to another country to fight a war, most people arnt'e used to the dramatic changes in temperature and are unaware of the signs of heat injury. Hydration is key to staying in the battle when in extreme heat. Being thirsty is already an early sign of dehydration and should be avoided. Three meals a day should be standard to help replace the lost electrolytes and salts in the body. An example of extreme heat during a battle would be during the 1967 Arab Israeli battle where almost 20,000 egyptian soldiers died. It is crucial that a soldier pay attention to the signs of heat exhaustion, heat stroke and heat...
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...SURFACE SANITATION VERIFICATION PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this information paper is to provide guidance on the use and implementation of the Charm PocketSwab( for surface sanitation verification in commissaries located throughout EUCOM. BACKGROUND: ATP (adenosine triphosphate) bioluminescence has been used in the food industry for over 10 years to quickly assess and monitor microbial contamination on surfaces. ATP is an excellent means of identifying “hot spots” or areas with organic material that could possibly support and accelerate microbial growth. The technology of ATP bioluminescence for hygiene monitoring has become increasingly useful because of it real-time capabilities, ease of use and affordability. It cannot replace microbiological testing but it is easier, faster and the results indicate cleanliness, (defined as the absence of organic material), rather than counting colony forming units of microorganisms. SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLE: It is important to understand the basic principles of ATP bioluminescence. ATP is a molecule that is essential and common to all plant, animal and microbial cells. This compound combines and reacts with an enzyme (luciferase) resulting in the release of light. The light emitted is measured by using the Charm LUM-T. This output of light is proportional to the amount of ATP present on a given surface. The measurement of biological contamination is approximated by determining the amount of ATP contained within or on the material...
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...2000, the 189 member countries of the United Nations at that time adopted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s). The eight goals are ambitious, and involve among others halving the number of people without clean water and sanitation by 2015. The challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) target for sanitation in Zambia by 2015 are many and include the large numbers of temporary latrines, low capacity for sanitation promotion in the country, weak policies and strategies for sanitation promotion, low support for sanitation in donor supported programs, social resistance to the use of the latrines, and lack of multi-sectoral partnerships for sanitation promotion. This paper endeavours to outline and discuss the sequential platform of activities in the policy process which the policy maker would use to address the problem of poor sanitation in Luangeni Village of Chief Mpezeni’s area. The essay also attempts to establish the seriousness of the problem of poor sanitation in the village by presenting statistical evidence. In order to fully comprehend and come up with solutions concerning the topic under discussion it is imperative that we understand some key concepts to be used in this essay, these include policy, policy makers and sanitation. Development policy making lies within the domain of the state. The word policy however has no single defination in literature, this is so because there are different points of view and diverging opinions and definitions from...
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...hygienic practices (e.g., washing of hands, safe preparation of food). A combination of factors traps them into this practice, including tradition, lack of awareness about the importance of sanitation, and misconceptions about the costs involved.34 In addition, communities must learn that technologies, even simple ones, are not the monopoly of engineers and technocrats, before they have the confidence to use and manage their sanitation problems.35 For policymakers and program implementers, experience has shown that information, education, and communication (IEC) campaigns involving communities and grassroots organizations can accelerate the process of change and hasten the adoption of sanitary practices. These efforts must include addressing sociocultural attitudes toward owning a household toilet. In many cases, this will require educating SCs and STs, many of whom are illiterate, about the need to use latrines and the importance of hygiene. In this effort, it is important to understand that much of the demand for latrines comes from women, as they are the worst sufferers due to non-availability of these facilities. Women have, by far, the most important influence in determining household hygiene practices and in forming habits of their children.36 Thus, the social marketing of many sanitation programs often start with making house-to-house contact to educate and motivate women in target communities. Messages that appeal to the need for privacy and the social stigma of open defecation...
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...WATER and SANITATION in Developing Countries: Including Health in the Equation Millions suffer from preventable illnesses and die every year. M AGGIE A. MONTGOMERY MENACHEM ELIMELECH YALE UNIV ERSIT Y WORLD BANK I mproving global access to clean drinking water and safe sanitation is one of the least expensive and most effective means to improve public health and save lives. The concept of clean water and safe sanitation as essential to health is not a novel idea. In 350 B.C., Hippocrates recommended boiling water to inactivate “impurities”. The U.S. and Central Europe, where water and sanitation services are nearly universal, significantly reduced water-, sanitation-, and hygiene-related diseases by the start of the 20th century by protecting water sources and installing sewage systems. However, in developing countries, water and sanitation services are still severely lacking. As a result, millions suffer from preventable illnesses and die every year (1). Many obstacles must be overcome to improve these statistics. The integration of public health into engineering problem solving is critical, but current efforts are insufficient. Through partnerships with local communities to implement water and sanitation solutions that consider environmental, cultural, and economic conditions, progress toward achieving and sustaining global coverage of water and sanitation services will be greatly enhanced. In this article, we discuss three main themes about...
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...[pic] Food Handling: Dos and Don’ts Guidelines 1. Potentially hazardous foods must be kept at 45oF or below or 135oF or above. The range between 45oF and 135oF is considered the “DANGER ZONE” because bacteria can grow best within this range. 2. Potentially hazardous foods shall be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 140oF except as follows: a. Roast beef shall be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 130oF b. Beef steak shall be cooked to at least 130oF, unless otherwise ordered by the immediate consumer c. Food from an approved packaging plant shall be cooked to at least 135oF d. Pork and food containing pork shall be cooked to at least 150 oF e. Ground beef and foods containing ground beef shall be cooked to at least 155 oF f. Poultry, stuffed poultry, stuffed meats and stuffings containing meat shall be cooked to at least 165 oF 3. Potentially hazardous foods that have been cooked and then refrigerated must be reheated to 165 oF within 2 hours. 4. Cooked potentially hazardous foods must be actively cooled once they reach 135 oF. Cool from 135 oF to 70 oF within 2 hours and then from 70 oF to 45 oF within 4 additional hours, for a total of six hours to cool. Cooling methods include: placing foods in shallow pans, separating the food into smaller and thinner portions, using rapid cooling equipment, ice baths, ice wands, containers that facilitate heat transfer, adding...
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...The issue of cleaning up food production spiked in the early 20th century, when factories and other means of mass producing the food came up. Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle”, detailing the horrid conditions in the factories; feces were found in much of the factory’s food and the workers had no sanitation training whatsoever. The factory was just a pile of filth. This is when the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) really cracked down on its policies, like the Pure Food and Drug Act. Since then, the FDA, along with other branches of the government have heightened the standards that food is held to. Many people blame the government when it is actually the companies who are producing the food who are to be held responsible. Even though companies do not always hold high standards for their quality of food, the government makes food quality one of their biggest concerns, and holds a high standard for it. Concerns of food safety includes many things like assuring the quality of packaging and the sanitary policies of company, but by far the most focused on and possessing the potential to do the most harm, is the issue of food-borne illness. “Food borne illness remains a huge public health challenge in the United States, causing an estimated 48 million illness episodes and 3000 deaths annually (Stewart).” The government is the one that is ultimately held responsible for these deaths and episodes, even if the companies slip up and cause one of these. Bashing the government is the logical...
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...Amartea Sen’s theory of welfare and its application to Kenya’s attainment of millennium development goals Amartea Sen is an Indian economists credited for the development of welfare theory in economics. He established various guidelines to act as a benchmark for the realization of better welfare in the society, which he termed as the main aim of development in the country. He believed that freedom rather than the functioning’s themselves, is the primary goal of development in any country. Through this, Sen is able to make the conclusion that the person’s standards of living should not only focus on the goods, its characteristics or the utility it provides but the capability of the person. In his case, the capability refers to the freedom the person has in terms of choice of functioning. He attaches a lot of weight on the range of choice the person rather than the choice of the best, which is the mainstay of welfare economics. According to Sen, there are four notions about goods, the notion of a good, characteristic of a good, functioning of a person and the utility of a good. For instance, Utilitarian’s view goods as having the value to the extent of satisfying human needs and wants. Enlightenment theorists view goods as only having value if they come from legitimate means. Egalitarians value goods to have an essential value; hence, distribution is paramount to them. The functioning of the person focuses mainly on the user and not the resources. In Sen’s view, the capabilities...
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...300 staff members and students will participate in this massive cleaning drive. Director B.S. Sahay will flag off the campaign with an oath taking ceremony. The ceremony will also witness the official launch of the Eco-club of IIM Raipur. The cleaning activities will continue till midday. The event which coincides with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi has a lot of significance, as the Father of nation used to stress on the importance of cleanliness and personal hygiene and sought to promote it in his surroundings in every possible way. Our nation is facing a lot of problems due to poor standards of cleanliness and lack of proper sanitation facilities. According to a United Nations report released this year, India continues to have the largest number of people in the world defecating in the open."The standards of hygiene and sanitation are very poor in even urban areas. Garbage disposal and hygiene standards in many commercial establishments leave much to be desired. This initiative by IIM Raipur is an effort to spread the message of cleanliness and encourage the citizens of India to keep the nation clean and beautiful", said Prof. B.S. Sahay, Director , IIM Raipur. The 'Swachh Bharat Campaign', an ambitious project of Prime minister Narendra Modi, that will be launched tomorrow is one of the biggest nationwide cleanliness campaigns. The objective of the five-year campaign, which the prime minister...
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...disgusted. Besides, he always stresses that “Like most westerners I tend towards herbivores”, and things like that make me think that the writer is just judging Chinese eating traditions following western standards or American taste, which is unfair to China and unconvincing to readers. Different nations have different dietary styles. For example, Americans like beef and the turkey on Christmas Day, Japanese prefer sashimi, South Koreans eat dog meat, but Chinese people like eating pork and organs related to pigs. Therefore, I think that the writer has no need or right to judge and criticize Chinese foods. We cam taste different foods and make some commends, but denying these foods just according to one’s own preference is improper. Sanitation problems in Chinese restaurants that the writer refers to in the essay do exist, and we also know that some restaurants need to improve their sanitary conditions. But the writher should say “Most of the restaurants in China to me smelled dirty”, which makes me doubt whether he has traveled many places in China, or how can he present such a certain assertion? There are...
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...In the seventeen hundreds people left England for the American colonies because they wanted a new start on religion, economics, politics, and social environments. England began to have many issues and people just weren’t happy nor satisfied living there. In order to live a happy new life they risked it all and traveled across sea to the America’s. The journey to the American’s was very treacherous and weeks long. A great amount of peopled died on the way there because of diseases and other complications. Before people began to move to the American’s there was a lot of things going on in England. People left because they wanted to escape poverty, depression, discrimination, and feudal systems that were designed to perpetuate these things. One of the main issues going on was war over religion. This war began when Puritan’s wanted to rule over all religions. As the Puritan movement grew stronger so did the opposition and repression of the king, the government, and the church. However, religion and political difficulties were only minor reasons to why people chose to move into the American’s. Soon England began going through some dramatic changes that affected everyone’s lives. England’s economy had been based on agriculture for centuries. Owning land meant becoming wealthy in the future. Everybody wanted to own land for the wealth, but it was difficult to satisfy everyone’s needs when they lived on a small island governed by those in favor of feudal rights. Soon land...
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...Food is essential for life. It should be pure, nutritious and free from any type of adulteration for proper maintenance of human health. Despite of improvement in production, processing and packaging, more poisons seem to be entering our food chain. For example Indian spices or 'masalas' add taste and flavour to food and also help in digestion. Some spices like turmeric have an antiseptic effect on the body. But what is most important is the quality of these ingredients. Every consumer wants to get maximum quantity of a commodity for as low a price as possible. This attitude of the consumer being coupled with the intention of the traders to increase the margin of profit, where the quality of the commodity gets reduced through addition of a baser substance and / or removal of vital elements also commonly known as food adulteration. The manual deals in detail about the location, layout, structure, physical facilities like hand wash, water supply, storage, lighting and ventilation etc required for the food service establishments. Background of the Study Food is the primary necessity in the world. It is usually of plant and animal in origin which is consist and contains essential nutrients ingested and assimilated by an organism to produce energy, stimulate growth, and maintain life such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. Historically, food is secured through hunting and agriculture like farming and animal raising. By that time...
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...Title of the action / project: Sensitization and well being for the Urban Extreme Poor (SWBUEP) Location of the action (country, region): 15 Slums areas in Dinajpur town, Bangladesh. Short project description focusing on the expected outcomes Situation Analysis: (Bangladesh Context): Bangladesh is a small country in South Asia with a total land area of 147.6 thousand square km. The populations of the cities in Bangladesh are growing at more than 8 percent per year and they will be double in size in less than 10 years (IFPRI, 2002). Rapid inflow of poor migrants, mostly poverty ridden and environmentally induced, and growing urban population are creating continual pressure on health and livelihoods in urban areas. Around 40 percent of the total population nationally and 43 percent of population in urban areas consume less than 2122 kilocalorie per capita per day which is defined as absolute poverty. On the other hand, 24.4 percent of urban poor populations live on less than 1805 kilocalorie are referred as hard-core poverty (BBS, 2011). Reproductive health: Access to health care facilities is a constitutional right of citizens of Bangladesh. According to World Bank health statistics, there were 0.4 hospital beds and 0.3 registered physicians per thousand persons in Bangladesh in 2005. In comparison to other developing countries, these statistics of health services are lower. For instance, in India there were almost 1 bed and 0.58 physicians per thousand persons in 2003. Similarly...
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...dust Pyrotechnics Archaeological Sites Maneuvering in sensitive areas Digging in sensitive areas Disturbing or removing artifacts Demolition/munitions effects Noise Demolition/munitions effects Night operations Operations near post/camp boundaries and civilian populace Vehicle convoys/maneuvers Threatened / Endangered species Maneuvering in sensitive areas Demolition/munitions effects, especially during breeding seasons Disturbing habitat or individual species spills or releases Poor field sanitation Soil (terrain) Over-use of maneuver areas Demolition/munitions effects Munitions and munitions related wastes Poor field sanitation Poor maneuver-damage control Erosion Troop construction effects Refueling operations spills Maneuver in ecologically sensitive areas such as wetlands Water Refueling operations near water sources spills Erosion and unchecked drainage Amphibious/water crossing operations Poor field sanitation 2. Identify mission-related environmental risks with a solution to the scenario. Vehicle accidents and breakdowns causing spill of fuel. Train all drivers before the exercise. Supply and issue vehicle spill equipment. Spills during refueling stops. Train all fuel handlers on proper refueling procedures. Provide spill equipment. Ensure that only fuel handlers will dispense fuel. Locate refueling sites away from bodies of water and wetland areas. Maneuver damage from off-road movement. Brief all drivers to...
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