**Hi fellow environmental warriors, its been a blessing having learnt variously from you and to also get to share with you as an ambassador. This is more like my last report as an ambassador, but I'm sure we'll keep crossing paths on this platform and other spheres. Thumbs up!

Sanitation refers to the maintenance and delivery of clean, hygienic conditions that help prevent disease through services such as drinking water supply, garbage collection and safe disposal of human waste. 

One pertinent challenge facing many developing countries in the world is the issue of sanitation and waste management.

Ghana for one has performed abysmally in the area of sanitation due to a lot of factors. These factors include but not limited to bad attitudes of its citizens, inadequate education on the importance of sanitation, improper planning by local authorities and agencies in charge of sanitation, and the failure to enforce of sanitation laws by the government and other stakeholders. Ghana was recently ranked as the world?s 7th worst performing country by the World Health Organisation in 2015. Accra and Kumasi being cosmopolitan has all kinds of characters by all kinds of people and such lifestyles are definitely huge contributors of the menace and must be considered if we are to make any progress in addressing this challenge.

Listed below are some effects of the poor sanitation situation in Ghana

1. Poor sanitation has significant negative effects on citizens and the national economy as well. Some of the negative effects of poor sanitation in Ghana include the discouragement of tourist trade in the country. 

Another effect is the likelihood of citizens contracting diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, cholera, etc. The opened gutters with filth, stagnant water bring mosquitoes which effect residents with malaria and open defecation means houseflies will sit on the human waste and bring the germ to effect the food we eat to spread diarrhea and cholera. 

Another problem is that the opened and choked gutters cause flood, death and injuries. The floods displace residents of affected areas every year and properties are destroyed. 

Below are some of the suggested solutions go ensure this issue is a thing of the past, and they are listed as suggested by a research by the Kumasi municipal Assembly of Ghana.

1. Opened gutters should be covered and underground sewage system adopted to prevent some of the negative effects stated above. 

2. Exposed soil should be covered with lawn grass, shrubbery and perhaps plants to preserve the ecology and beautify the environment. 

3. Stationary dustbins (to prevent theft by the public) should be provided at public places to prevent the citizens from throwing solid waste indiscriminately. 

4. Victims who litter the environment should be fined. Sanitation laws should be properly enforced by the government and other stakeholders. 

5. The government should introduce systems and methods of recycling of waste. 

6. Education on sanitation should be intensified. 

7. Sanitation workers should be motivated and seen valuable in the sector. 

8. Adequate waste carriage vehicles should be provided.