The Central Regional Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Anita Nana Segua Ansah, has called on residents, particularly fishing communities, to keep beaches clean to promote healthy living and protect the environment.

She made the call during a beach clean-up exercise held in Cape Coast as part of activities marking this year's Youth Month.

According to Mrs Ansah, many people, especially fishers, spend most of their time at the beach, making sanitation a critical issue.

She highlighted that the National Youth Authority is climaxing the month of August as Youth Month with a series of activities, of which the clean-up exercise is one.

She urged residents to take responsibility for keeping their surroundings clean to protect their health.

Mrs Ansah said the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly supported the exercise by providing logistics and Zoomlion trucks to transport the collected waste to a dumping site.

She added that the Mayor had assured the Authority that dustbins would be provided at the beach to help reduce indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

"The Mayor has given the assurance that he will make sure there will be dustbins provided to curb indiscriminate refuse disposal," she said.

Calling on the public to make sanitation a personal responsibility, Mrs Ansah said government alone could not keep communities clean.

"Government will not come and tidy up our homes for you. And the refuse we throw about is what the water will bring back to us in floods. Everyone should do their part, please. Don't sweep and put the rubbish into a gutter, give it to those who collect rubbish, so our environment will be clean," she said.

She also stressed that the cleanliness of Cape Coast was important to the city's image as a major tourist destination.

"If our surroundings are not clean, it doesn't speak well of us. Because of the historical nature of Cape Coast, it is respected as a key destination on the global map. Thousands of people come to this castle behind us every blessed day for its historical significance. For people to come visit and see how dirty the surrounding beach is doesn't speak well of us," she said.

Mrs Ansah thanked the traditional leaders and members of the community for supporting the exercise and said she would ensure the Mayor fulfilled his promise to provide dustbins.

Some participants also appealed to the public to stop littering and defecating on the beaches, saying good sanitation was essential to preventing disease and protecting public health.