As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen its environmental surveillance system and enhance public health response, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has initiated a two-day training programme focused on wastewater-based environmental surveillance.

The training, which brings together frontline surveillance officers from designated sites across the country, aims to build capacity in detecting and monitoring pathogens such as Salmonella typhi, Hepatitis E, Vibrio cholerae, and the measles virus through wastewater analysis.

Representing the Director of Public Health, Dr. Dennis Laryea, Deputy Director for Disease Surveillance, addressed participants, urging them to view wastewater samples not merely as waste, but as critical sources of data that can drive life-saving public health interventions. He emphasized the importance of the training in enhancing disease detection and response systems across the country.

"I encourage you to see this training as an opportunity to deepen your understanding of environmental surveillance and its role in protecting public health," Dr. Laryea said. "The tools and knowledge you acquire here will help strengthen and complement our existing surveillance efforts."

Organized by the Public Health Division’s Disease Surveillance Department in collaboration with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the training is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Wastewater-based environmental surveillance involves analyzing sewage for the presence of specific pathogens and using the findings to inform public health strategies. This method, which has been instrumental in tracking viruses such as poliovirus and SARS-CoV-2, is now being expanded to address a broader spectrum of infectious diseases that threaten public health.

Credit: Ghana Health Service