Dr. Kofi Asare, the Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, has asked Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to be committed to environmental matters. He urged them to strictly enforce all bye-laws on sanitation to ensure a clean environment. Dr. Asare said such measures were crucial for the conservation of the country's eco-system and bio-diversity, which were being degraded through illegal human activities. He was addressing members of the Amansie-West District Assembly at a day's workshop on malaria at Anwiankwanta near Manso-Nkwanta in the District. The workshop which was organised by the Healthcare Christian Fellowship, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) aimed at sensitizing participants on malaria and other diseases to enable them to educate the people on the prevention of the disease. Dr. Asare said malaria, a deadly tropical disease could erode the country's socio-economic gains if not eradicated. He said malaria accounted for about 50 per cent of out-patient-department attendance and also responsible for most of the deaths among expectant mothers and children. Madam Esther Mensah, Director of the NGO, expressed regret that the landscape in the district was being destroyed through illegal mining activities at an alarming rate. She called on the assemblies to help reclaim degraded land that had become breeding grounds for mosquitoes as a result of stagnant water in gullies.Source: GNA