Ghana spends 79 million dollars a year on open defecation

Tamale, Nov. 20, GNA –   Mr Shaibu Dawuda an official of the Northern Regional Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate has observed that the scourge of open defecation (OD) cost the nation 79 million dollars a year.   However eliminating the practice would require less than one million latrines to be built and used, he said.   Mr Dawuda made the observation when he addressed the Chiefs and people of Dungu, a farming community and its environs in the Tamale Metropolis on Monday during this year’s World Toilet Day.   “Open defecation does not only have higher costs than any other sanitation practise yet it had serious adverse social impact,” he said.   He said about 60 per cent of diseases in the region are sanitation related, citing the more than 50 cholera cases reported in the East Gonja and Kpandai districts where two lives were lost.   Mr Dawuda called on government to address sanitation inequality through specific strategies in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.   Mr Sulemana Abudul-Karim, Executive Director of Behasun Integrated Development Organisation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), observed that lack of proper sanitation could plunge a community into the outbreak of diseases including cholera and typhoid fever.   He called on government and political parties to fulfil their promises on sanitation made during political campaigns, as well as commitments during the “High Meetings on Sanitation and Water” to ensure sanitation and water for all.   He asked the people to develop communal regulations to ban OD to ensure environmental cleanliness.   Mr Abdul-Karim recommended that official of town and country planning should refuse estate developers who do not include a toilet facility in their building plans as a strategy to reduce the case of OD.   Mr Felix Gbevillah Programme Officer of WaterAid, an NGO and sponsors of the day, called on the public to change their attitude towards sanitation.   The day was on the theme: “Achieving Open Defecation Free.”   This year’s commemoration marks the 11th Anniversary to take concrete action aim at breaking the taboo around toilets and draw attention to the global sanitation challenge.   GNA... Read Full Story