REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH UNIT HOLDS PERFORMANCE REVIEW MEETING WITH ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS IN THE MMDAs

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The Regional Environmental Health Analyst held a performance review meeting with Municipal/ District Environmental Health Officers (MDEHOs) in the Regional Co-ordinating Council’s (RCC) conference room on 11^th October, 2023.

 The aim of the meeting was to assess the work been done on the field how to improve upon environmental health and sanitation in the Region.

In his welcome address, the Regional Environmental Health Analyst Mr. Michael Peprah advised officers to always exercise patience and educate the public before any court action is initiated.  He urged officers to update all relevant information in their reports and submit on time.

Mr. Francis Kog, an Assistant Environmental Health Analyst at the Regional Office applauded Wenchi MEHOs, both past and present for consistencies in their reportage. He said Wenchi MEHOs have been very swift and up to speed on report writing and submission that is worthy of emulation.

Miss Sulemana Nawara, an Assistant Environmental Health Analyst and the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) Focal person urged MDEHOs to apply the CLTS approach to help increase household latrine coverage that would enable us achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 which emphasizes on 100% household coverage by the year 2030.

Municipal and District Environmental Health Officers on their part raised concerns about the work of some officers of the District Assemblies who have turned themselves into WASH program officers. They   said planning officers, Budget, Human resource, community Development and some other staff usually hijack WASH projects which make it very difficult for Environmental Health Officers to deliver to achieve results. They pleaded with the Regional Environmental Health Analyst and his team to visit them regularly and help address some of these issues.

The Senior Human Resource Manager of the Regional Co-ordinating Council, Madam Akua Gyakyewaa Antwi who participated in the meeting urged MDEHOs to give their staff schedules to enable them be able to set SMART targets for the year. She asked them to coach staff to fill their appraisal forms appropriately and call on their Human Resource Managers when the need arises.

Madam Akua also told MDEHOs that item 7.2 of the performance contract talks about 60% environmental health and sanitation therefore MDEHOs must endeavor to capture environmental health and sanitation issues in the performance contract and ensure that 80% of it is completed before the end of the year. She entreated MDEHOs to submit their reports with a memo attached to enable it pass through the mails to be recorded before it gets to their Directors.

The Chief Director, Mr. Andrew Okuma Nawil who graced the meeting advised MDEHOs to plan well and ensure that their plans and appropriate budgets are captured and factored into the Assembly’s Annual Action Plan.

MDEHOs responding to Chief Director said their plans and budgets are always captured but they have difficulty assessing funds.

Chief Director then agreed to talk to Co-ordinating Directors on their behalf.