Abstract
Indiscriminate waste disposal constitute a major deficiency to most Cameroonian cities nowadays. Unorthodox dumping of waste in Mamfe has triggered urban disorder and nuisance in the town. It is in furtherance to this that, this article seeks to address the health hazards accrued from poor waste management in Mamfe. The article advances that the inadequacy of waste disposal equipment coupled with no sustainable policy of management and mentality of the city dwellers have incited the incidence of diseases. Some 150 questionnaires were administered to households in the Mamfe neighbourhood to determine the impact of poor waste disposal to the town. The Spear Rho Rank Order Correlation was used to test the effect of solid waste on the sanitary health of the Mamfe community. Further field survey through observation was done to capture images of poor waste disposal. These varied methods were used to generate data for results and analyses. Results from findings adhere to the fact that the Mamfe community generates 70.59% of biodegradable waste, 25.32% of non-biodegradable and 4.09% of inert materials. A correlation index analysis of the effect of solid waste on sanitary health of the community stood at R = 0.9976 indicating a very strong relationship between waste and sanitary diseases in Mamfe. The poor implementation of waste disposal policies has led to unstable and excessive dumping of waste in the town. Much waste was generated in less privileged neighbourhoods than the privileged ones due to settlement in the unplanned areas of Lala, Banya, Satum and Egbekaw in the expansion process of the town. This paper advocates that, community based organs and NGOs be used to establish a waste management system in Mamfe. Waste education through El-Hager’s 4Rs concept of reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery be put in place to render the Mamfe town sustainable for living.
Highlights
Poor waste disposal is one of the major difficulties faced by emerging Sub-Saharan African towns
Owing to the fact that a positive index connotes a strong relationship and a negative one a poor relationship, this work found out that the habit of disposing waste anyhow in Mamfe has increased the incidence of diseases in the town
Indiscriminate solid or liquid waste disposal is tantamount to health hazards in the immediate and even extended community [20]
Summary
Poor waste disposal is one of the major difficulties faced by emerging Sub-Saharan African towns. This is because it does pollute the environment and reduces the beauty of the areas, but as well provokes health hazards that affect its inhabitants. The influx of many people into Mamfe will continue to swell and increase the problems of poor health from pollution and land degradation. Hazards in Mamfe, Cameroon increase of different types of wastes from poor waste management system of the town. With the dumping of waste illegally in open spaces, streams, storm-drainage channels, burnt and or deposited along streets or roadsides, health problems have emerged in Mamfe. This article seeks to address the health hazards accrued from poor waste management in Mamfe.
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