The UNICEF District League Table report indicates that, only eight of Ghana’s 216 districts have at least a one-third [33 percent] of their communities not engaged in open defecation.
As yet, no district in Ghana has been certified as Open Defecation Free, which is the main measure under the sanitation indicator of the UNICEF District League Table.
[contextly_sidebar id=”0K4IcDvUltUkyiO8WorWi6iJTs8c6SeN”]Despite this, the UNICEF District League Table report cited sanitation as a “key area of improvement”.
The eight districts which have been able to provide decent toilet facilities for at least one third of their communities are Mion, Kumbungu and Tatale Sanguli in Northern Region, Bawku West and Pusiga in Upper East, and Lambussie Karni, Nandom and Wa East in Upper West Region.
UNICEF collaborated with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to evaluate the sanitation situation.
Ghana failing to provide decent toilets
According to the U.N, 2.5 billion people do not have access to toilet facilities, most of which are in developing countries like Ghana.
Ghana was recently noted among the top 10 countries worldwide with the highest percentage of its population without decent toilets according to a report from international NGO, WaterAid.
Ghana has about 85.7 percent of its population without decent toilets, and this equals about 23 million people, according to the report.
The government is aware of the problem, and has indicated that, it intends to construct toilet facilities in various homes across the country as an effective measure of addressing open defecation.
This was in response to threats by the World Bank to withdraw support to Ghana if measures were not taken to address sanitation challenges.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Kofi Adda, has indicated that he is targeting the provision of one million toilets nationwide.
Recently in Parliament, the government was seeking approval for an additional loan facility of $45.7 million from the International Development Bank, to finance a sustainable rural water and sanitation project.
This project is to help expand access to, and ensure sustainability of water supply and sanitation services in rural and small-town communities in six regions of Ghana.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana