The practice of open defecation is said to have an effect on the country’s productivity since the working class gets sick and sometimes die due to cholera outbreak and some diseases attributed to the menace.
Records have it that Ghana spends about $ 79 million yearly in controlling diseases and other factors attributed to the practice of open defecation and improper sanitation practice.
It is against this backdrop that Communication Consultant of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICef) Ghana, Emmanuel Addai is advocating for a behavioral change of people towards the practice of open defecation. The effects of the practice of the menace Mr. Addai stated that the country has failed to give much priority in the sector.
“Ghana is one of the highest ranking countries in terms with open defecation with 19 percent of the population practicing it” he stated
According to Mr. Addai “a lot of OPD cases in Ghana have been linked to open defecation; and the believe is that, if the country had paid enough attention to open defecation and hygiene in general, we wouldn’t even need too many hospitals, or too many curative health staff because we are preventing diseases”.
The Communication Consultant of UNICef revealed this in Bolgatanga during a day media orientation on an impending ‘Open Defecation Free’ campaign to be held on 14th of December in the Upper East Regional capital.
The campaign seeks to adopt social norms to achieve open defecation free in order to help the country meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on sanitation related issues by the year 2030. Mr. Addai therefore called for rigorous efforts from the public and the media in naming and shaming persons caught practicing of open defecation.
By: Joshua Asaah|A1radioonline.com|Ghana
