The menace of environmental pollution has been haunting the human world since early times and is still growing due to excessive growth in developing countries. The inevitable byproduct of human activities is Solid waste often called “garbage” or “trash”.
Our development as Africans in Population growth and economic development lead to enormous amounts of solid waste being generated by us. Trash is generated from human settlements, small industries and commercial activities. An additional source of waste is the waste from hospitals and clinics. In majority of African countries most of our Institutions do not have any specific technique of managing their wastes. When all these wastes are mixed together and dumped openly at some dedicated dumpsites, they pose a threat to human health and long term effect on the environment.
It also poses serious threat to groundwater resources and soil. The contamination of soil by heavy metal can cause adverse effects on human health, animals and soil productivity. The fertility and soil quality of our farmlands have been affected enormously due to these heavy metals that sip their was through the soil from industrial and chemical wastes.
Open dumpsites are common in my country, Ghana and most African countries for that matter, due to the low budget for waste disposal, little or no public education on waste disposal, and non-availability of trained manpower.
Africa is generally faced with rapid deterioration of environmental conditions due to the conventional system of collection and dumping of solid wastes. Therefore urban waste management has become a major concern in cities. Little efforts have been made in order to improve the waste collection and disposal facilities. This has created some grave consequences ranging from disease like Cholera, Malaria and all kids of my microbial infections.
Some things we can do to help…..
1. Do not litter around, whether in the village or in the cities
2. Cover your trash cans
3. Reduce the use of plastics
4. Stop open defecation.
5. Try and segregate your domestic and industrial waste.
6. RECYCLE! RECYCLE!! RECYCLE!!!
BBS Medical Consult is therefore admonishing every person reading this post to be mindful of how you dispose off waste. And we believe that when we make the change today in our own small corner, a bigger change will be effected on the continent at Large.
This is a concern for all Africans and must be addressed as such.
BBS Medical Consult 