|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Christian Ahodie
A growing public health crisis is unfolding in the heart of the Volta region capital, Ho-Dome, where a sprawling refuse dump has become a toxic threat to the lives and livelihoods of residents, workers, and businesses.
Located dangerously close to homes, shops, and informal workplaces, the unregulated dump is rarely cleared. Waste continues to pile up, fires burn daily, and contaminated floodwaters flow into nearby areas whenever it rains — exposing thousands of residents to grave health and environmental risks.
Smoke, filth, and illness are choking the community. “We can’t breathe or work,” lamented Enyoma, who operates a drinking bar just meters from the dump. “When the smoke starts, my customers run out coughing. I’m losing income, and my children cough every night.”
Mawuli, another resident, painted a grim picture of poor sanitation and exposure: “There is no toilet in my home yet the public toilet stinks, so I go to the bush. Other residents also go in the bush. When it rains, everything mixes — filth, floodwater, and human waste. It stinks. We’re always sick.”
The situation is worsened by the daily burning of waste, which releases thick, toxic smoke laced with dangerous chemicals. Health complaints — particularly among children, pregnant women, and the elderly — include severe coughs, chest pains, and worsening asthma. Meanwhile, streams around the area are increasingly polluted by chemical-laced runoff and untreated human waste, threatening water safety and local biodiversity.
The Ghana Health Service and urban health researchers have sounded the alarm, linking more than 28,000 deaths annually in Ghana to air pollution from burning waste and open fires. Dirty water and poor sanitation remain leading causes of preventable illnesses, particularly diarrhea and skin infections in children. The statistics are sobering. Nearly one in four Ghanaians still practice open defecation, significantly raising the risk of disease outbreaks, especially in underserved urban communities like Ho-Dome.
Businesses near the dump are also bearing the brunt of the crisis. Local traders, mobile money agents, food vendors, and even hairdressers say customers are staying away due to the filth and stench. Property values are plummeting, and many fear long-term economic ruin. “I’ve had to close my salon several times due to smoke. I’ve lost clients, and my children keep getting sick,” said one local business owner.
The CHORUS Urban Health Programme, which has been working in communities such as Ashaiman and Madina, has demonstrated that community-based approaches can reverse such trends. The initiative promotes collaboration between health officials, city planners, and local leaders to improve hygiene education, construct public toilets, enhance waste management, and deploy trained health workers into neighborhoods. Experts believe that adopting this model in Ho-Dome could help restore safety and dignity to the affected community.
Calls are mounting for the Ho Municipal Assembly and stakeholders to act decisively. There is an urgent need to remove and decommission the refuse dump, construct both public and household toilets, enforce sanitation bylaws, and deploy community health workers to educate the public. The streams and water bodies around Ho-Dome must also be protected from further pollution, while support must be given to small businesses operating in the area to help them survive the crisis.
The unfolding disaster in Ho-Dome is a reflection of a larger national challenge — poor urban sanitation and waste mismanagement that silently endanger lives across Ghana. But with coordinated action from government, communities, and partners like CHORUS, the trend can be reversed.
The time to act is now. The people of Ho-Dome have sounded the alarm. Will authorities respond before more lives and livelihoods are lost?
