SaniPath is excited to announce that we have officially established a MoU with the School of Hygiene in Accra to develop a course for students and mid-level environmental health practitioners on the SaniPath Tool. Training of faculty at the School of Hygiene is planned for early 2021. This effort has been coordinated by our African training hub leads at TREND.
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) released National Food Safety Guidelines to be implemented by Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana. The document provides a framework to guide MMDAs to address food safety issues that occur along the value chain. These guidelines will help local governments implement safe food handling practices by providing key regulations and standards that serve as templates for MMDAs to implement in their jurisdictions.
The SaniPath Tool was deployed in neighborhoods in Kumasi and Accra and the results revealed high levels of E. coli contamination on raw produce and street food. These results were used by local public health professionals to prioritize efforts to address food safety in Ghana. The new guidelines will be used to ensure the highest level of food safety standards are adhered to throughout the food supply chain to prevent fecal contamination from occurring and to improve public health. To view the results from the exposure assessments, visit the SaniPath Results Dashboard page and select "Accra" and "Kumasi" on the left-hand side of the page.
Photo credit and information: "MLGRD Launches National Food Safety Guidelines" by Eric Nana Yaw Kwafo.
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2019
November 20-24, 2019
Wolfgang Mairinger, Yuke Wang, Suraja Raj, Habib Yakubu, Casey Siesel, Jamie Green, Sarah Durry, Christine Moe
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
The SaniPath exposure assessment tool compares risks of exposure to fecal contamination in urban environments across multiple exposure pathways. The tool has been deployed in 39 neighborhoods in 8 cities: Accra, Ghana, Vellore, India; Maputo, Mozambique; Siem Reap, Cambodia; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Atlanta, United States; Lusaka, Zambia; and Kampala, Uganda. Ten exposure pathways were investigated (open drains, ocean water, surface water, floodwater, public latrines, soil, bathing water, raw produce, drinking water, and street food) through behavior surveys and environmental sample analyses. Exposure was expressed as monthly dose (average amount of fecal contamination ingested as measured by E. coli colony-forming units [CFU]) and the percent of population exposed to fecal contamination for each pathway. Magnitude of fecal contamination, frequency of exposure behavior, and estimated fecal exposures were compared across pathways, neighborhoods and cities. The most common dominant exposure pathways for adults were raw produce, open drains, and street food and for children were open drains, produce, and floodwater. For produce, the dose was usually very high (>106 CFU/ month), and a large percent of the population was exposed (>80%). For street food, average E. coli concentration ranged from 101.3 CFU/serving in one neighborhood in Lusaka, Zambia to 105.5 CFU/serving in one neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Exposure to open drains resulted in high doses (>104 CFU/month), but the population exposed varied (5%-92%) even within the same city. Exposure to fecal contamination via floodwater, usually affected a high percent of population (>80%) but had variable doses (102.5-1010 CFU/month). Both dose and percent of population exposed varied for public latrines and municipal piped water. This information can help city governments choose effective interventions to reduce the risk of exposure to fecal contamination. Widespread risks from contaminated produce and street food within and across cities underscore the link between excreta management and food safety and need for global action.
