Training of Environmental Health Officers in Anglophone West Africa: How Adequate for Environmental Monitoring?

Abstract

There is concern that the curriculum for training Environmental Health Officers (EHO) in Anglophone English speaking West Africa grossly lags behind the skills needed by sanitarians in the sub-region to cope with the challenge of environmental monitoring/control.

This paper examines in detail the existing curriculum for the training of EHOs at the diploma and degree levels in the sub-region and observes that both curricula lack sufficient credit weight to impart the desired skills to perform the highly scientific task of environmental monitoring. Suggestions are made on ways and means of enhancing the professional education of EHOs in the sub-region.

The paper contends that the situation places sanitarians in the sub-region at a serious academic handicap as many universities are reluctant to accept them for further studies in related fields.

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