PS wants waterborne diseases eliminated

COPPERBELT Province Permanent Secretary Stanford Msichili has said there is need to put in extra effort to combat an outbreak of waterborne diseases that have been wreaking havoc in the province for some time now.
Mr Msichili said he was concerned that the province had continued to record cases of water borne diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea and dysentery.
He said this in Kitwe yesterday when he chaired a provincial epidemic committee meeting held at Hotel Edinburgh.
“It is saddening that some diseases have continued to occur in the province. Since 2008, some water borne diseases remain uncontrolled and I think this calls for much effort particularly in the area of water and sanitation,” he said.
Mr Msichili was also concerned with uncontrolled street vending in most of the districts in the province, which he said was equally contributing to harmful diseases among citizens.
He said a number of foods such as dry fish being sold on the streets were coated with preservative chemicals which were harmful to the health of buyers.
The permanent secretary said there was need to put in place measures aimed at controlling vending.
And Mr Msichili called upon district commissioners to jack up standards and be in the driving seat of Government’s development projects.
He said district commissioners were appointed in their respective positions to play a leading role in all Government programmes.