Conflicting reports on access to toilets

Page 55
20-11-08

THERE are conflicting reports over the percentage of Ghanaians who really have access to toilet facilities.
While the Joint Monitoring Project (JMP) set up by the UNICEF and the WHO indicates that only 10 per cent of Ghanaians have access to improved toilet facilities, Ghanaian institutions say 61 per cent of the population have access to the facilities.
In view of the discrepancies in figures, Mr Thomas Sayibu, Chairman of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation, appealed to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment to set up a task force that would clearly define the indicators, terminologies and minimal standards for measuring what constituted improved toilet and develop a time-frame for all data collection institutions to adhere to the indicators.
That, he said, would help ensure that the country progressed towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on sanitation.
Mr Sayibu made the appeal in an address read for him at a press conference organised by the Coalition of Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) in water and sanitation to mark World Toilet Day, which fell yesterday, November 19, 2008.
The day is to remind people, among other things, that clean toilets are crucial to good health. This year’s celebration is on the theme: “We Deserve Better.”
Mr Sayibu observed that a lack of commitment to enforce the building code was the main factor responsible for people not having toilets in their homes.
He underscored the need for MMDAs to not only enforce the code, but to prosecute landlords and landladies who flouted it.
“According to the Ghana Statistical Service Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) report for 2006, more than four million Ghanaians defecate in the bush, open drains, water bodies or fields, instead of using the latrine. The report indicates open defecation is prevalent in the 10 regions,” he said.
Mr Sayibu said the practice was most widespread in the Upper East Region with about 82 per cent of the people without any form of latrine, followed by the Upper West Region with about 79 per cent and the Northern Region with about 73 per cent.
He said such negative practice was caused by the absence of clean household or public latrines and ignorance of the harmful effects of open defecates.
He said Ghana was not any different from the rest of the world and that, according to the World Toilet Organisation, about 2.5 billion people, or 40 per cent of the world’s population lacked basic sanitation, adding that only about 30 per cent of people who have sewerage system have their facilities treated in an environmentally and friendly way with the rest going into gutters, among other places.
Mr Sayibu said sewage was virtually non-existent in the country, and that “Tema and some satellite systems in parts of Accra, Kumasi and other cities were the only places that could boast of sewage systems in the country.
“According to the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD), only about 4.5 per cent of Ghanaians have access to sewage systems. Apart from Tema, many of those satellite systems are found within such institutions as government ministries, academic institutions and hospitals rather than in settlements,” he explained.
Mr Sayibu said improved sanitation services and hygiene practices needed to be emphasised as a major element for the building of human capability in the poverty reduction strategy for the country.
Mr Emmanuel Addai, the Communications Specialist of Water and Sanitation Monitoring Platform of the Ministry of Water Resources Work and Housing, disclosed that Ghana ranked 48 out of 51 African countries with access to household sanitation facilities.