Stakeholders in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector, WASH-Cameroon, have called on the Government to increase access to adequate quantities and qualities of potable water, sustainable sanitation and proper hygiene facilities in the country.

The call was made during a three-day national coordination workshop of actors in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector, organised by the Ministry of Water and Energy in Yaounde on October 21.

According to the organisers, the objective of the workshop is to reinforce the capacity of WASH actors for better coordination of their actions, so as to respond to the human crisis plaguing the national territory.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, a WASH-Cameroon committee member, Sylvanus Binla, said the Cameroon Government needs to understand that access to water and sanitation is a fundamental human right and essential to life, health and dignity. He asserted that the human crisis situations such as malnutrition and cholera affecting the Cameroon population stems from limited access to potable water and unhygienic practices.

To him, the optimum benefit from the water and sanitation workshop can only be achieved if communities and individuals are made aware of the links between hygiene practices, poor sanitation, polluted water sources and disease.

The success of Cameroon’s 2035 emergence plan, he went on, depends on Government’s provision of clean water and sanitation services to its citizens.

He advised Government to come up with a proper disposal plan for waste, as well as, control of the carriers of communicable diseases, including mosquitoes, rats, mice and flies. He asserted that the promotion of best practices and hygiene education will greatly mitigate some of these health risks and prevent epidemics.

Taking the floor, the Water and Energy Regional Delegate for the Northwest Region, Emmanuel Moki Ngando, said lack of liquid waste management, inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, make thousands of people sick everyday in the Northwest Region.

According to him, these problems can only be solved when critical gaps in the provision of water and sanitation services are addressed.

Lauding Government efforts in organising the workshop, the MINEE official said they are in support of any endeavour that will improve the water and sanitation situation in the country. To him, the WASH workshop shows that Government has placed water, sanitation and hygiene issues high on its agenda.

The WASH workshop aims at contributing to the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation, to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water.