Gov’t blames disease prevalence on declining hygiene
The permanent secretary to the Ministry of health Dr. Diana Atwine has attributed the increasing disease burden in the country to poor sanitation and hygiene within the communities. According to Dr Atwine, 70% of the diseases that can be prevented are being diagnosed among people, due to poor waste management, poor food handling as well as failure to clean their environments. This was reiterated by the Mable city health officer Dr Godfrey Mugonyi who added that the city is facing a challenge of lack of access to clean water as well as equipment to manage the city's garbage. The Principal of Mbale school of hygiene Gersom Irikori also notes that the school does not have enough funds to train environmental health workers. These remarks were made during commemorations to mark World Sanitation and Hygiene week in Mbale City on Friday.
