As the government of Ghana continues to lead the fight against Open Defecation in the country with the aim of meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation, a crusade dubbed: Open Defecation Free Ghana Campaign is to be launched in Bolgatanga on December 14, 2017.
Being led by the government of Ghana through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Ministry of Sanitation and Water, with support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICef) Ghana and its partners, the campaign is a component of total sanitation campaign that President Nana Akufo-Addo launched in November this year. The yet-to-be launched campaign is specific on stopping open defecation.
At an engagement with the media in Bolgatanga ahead of the official launch of ‘Open Defecation Free Ghana Campaign’, Communication Consultant of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICef) Ghana, Emmanuel Addai, revealed that currently, 19% of Ghana’s population practices open defecation daily. If translated, this means 1 out of every 5 people practices open defecation in Ghana.
According to him, open defecation is currently practiced in every region and district in Ghana, though at varying rates and the practice is highest in the three regions in the North – between 49% and 74% of the regional population.
Ghana is among 34 countries with the highest OD rates of 15% and above.
The situation causes preventable deaths on annual basis. A case in recollection is when 248 people were killed in Ghana in 2014 and more than 29,000 others affected following a cholera outbreak that hit Accra and some other major cities.
Apart from deaths, the menace also costs the nation millions of dollars as a 2012 World Bank report revealed open defecation costs Ghana over 79 million dollars a year.
Mr. Addai, said a lot of Out-Patient Department (OPD) cases in Ghana are linked to open defecation which is a reflection that very little attention is given to open defecation and sanitation/hygiene in Ghana. Ironically, he said much attention is given to expansion of health facilities, health training institutions and curative health staff. All these interventions, he observes are reactive rather than proactive.
He, therefore, called for a deliberate campaign against open defecation which he notes is creating problems for the country because it is said to have grave consequences on the country’s productivity since the working class is taken ill and sometimes dies due to cholera outbreak and its associated diseases.
The consultant also called for behaviour change of people towards the practice of open defecation as a critical means of dealing with the menace.
Source:TopNewsGhana.com
