A cholera expert, John Yaw Donkor has maintained that interrupting the route transmission of the vibrio bacteria, eating good and well prepared food and drinking of potable water should be enough remedy to completely end the prevalence of cholera. He cautioned that until Ghana takes steps to provide adequate potable water for the people while households eat good food, cholera could escalate into an epidemic in no time. Vibrio cholerae is the bacteria which causes cholera and is one of the most common organisms in surface waters. They occur in both marine and freshwater habitats and in associations with aquatic animals. As cholera is prevalent in Africa, Southeast Asia and Haiti, it is rare in the United States and other industrialized nations. Globally, cholera cases have increased steadily since 2005, health reports have said. “Until Ghana gets adequate potable water and safe food, there would still be cholera in Ghana,” he said. Mr. Donkor, who works at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), was educating some group of journalists selected across the country on cholera. The one-day National Cholera Reporting Training workshop held on Thursday was organized by the Ghana Watsan Journalists Network and sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Furthermore, Mr. Donkor indicated that practical plans were far advanced to making water potable for citizens in most developed countries and that Ghana could tap into those measures. Food preparation and distribution, according to him, undergo very strict protocol observation and monitoring in order to secure the lives of consumers in those countries. That is why unsafe and contaminated foods in the western world are immediately removed from the shelves and destroyed, he remarked. Such moves, Mr. Donkor admitted had controlled cholera outbreaks and labeled as one of the “internationally quarantineable diseases” in developed countries. According to him, Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, has a record of five per cent open defecation syndrome. Inadequate donor funds seem to have heavy toll on the fight against the disease. But a cholera consultant with UNICEF, Maurice Ocquaye, stated that “our own people should be blamed for funds not flowing in to continue with the activities of cholera eradication.” He explained that government agencies involved in dealing with cholera issues have on some occasions, shown little commitment in putting out proposals to attract support from institutions such as the UNICEF . Mr. Ocquaye, however, mentioned that the Japanese government granted Ghana a $1.5 million last year through UNICEF to bring safe water to 35,000 people while supporting 25,000 others to have access to good sanitation. The fund is expected to expire October, this year. Meanwhile, he described Ghana’s incessant battle with cholera as very disgraceful in this 21st century. “Practices have changed for the worse. Most communities and households do not have toilet facilities,” he lamented. Last year alone, the country recorded 9,500 cholera cases with 100 deaths, but the country is yet record any death in 2013. The Ghana Watsan Journalists Network’s Deputy Coordinator, Edmund Smith-Asante, who took participants through some reporting techniques, urged his colleagues to give factual and detailed reports on issues relating to the disease while partnering other stakeholders towards the crusade against cholera. Participants, along the line were grouped to come out with some plausible recommendations on how best to eradicate cholera in the country.