Africa-Press – Ghana. Kumasi, Nov. 19- The government is to construct 30,000 household toilet facilities for the people in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan area. Among the beneficiary areas are Kumasi Metropolis, Old Tafo, Asokore Mampong, Asokwa, Ejisu, Oforikrom, and Suame Municipalities.
Madam Cecilia Abenaa Dapaah, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, who announced this said in addition, 120 disability friendly fit for purpose institutional toilets facilities would be constructed in schools and other public places. She said the $74 million project would also involve the expansion and rehabilitation of the Asafo Sewage Systems in Kumasi.
Madam Dapaah, who announced these at the 2021 World Toilet Day celebration in Kumasi, indicated that the Ministry in collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, and support from the World Bank, were scaling up and improving access to toilets.
Over the past few years, about 124,952 household’s toilet facilities have been delivered across the country. This year’s celebration was held under the theme “Stop open defecation, own a household latrine now, let’s play our part in a Covid-19 era”.
The Day is to create awareness of the over 3.6 billion vulnerable people in the world who unfortunately do not have access to safe and properly managed toilets.
It is also to inspire actions to tackle the global crisis situation and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Six, which promises sanitation for all by year 2030.
Madam Dapaah said the health of all people in a community were threatened when the people did not have access to safe water and sanitation facilities. She indicated that as at 2018, about 59 per cent of Ghanaians depended on shared sanitation facilities including public toilets.
According to her, statistics from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), indicated that 22 per cent of the population practice open defecation, whilst only 21 per cent had access to improved sanitation.
Eight per cent depended on various forms of unapproved sanitation facilities such as bucket latrines. Madam Dapaah expressed satisfaction that access to safely managed toilet in Ghana was improving though at a slower pace
She advised the Ghanaian populace to keep a cleaner environment adding that poor sanitation was linked to diseases such as cholera, diarrheal, dysentery, hepatitis A, and typhoid.
Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, advised Ghanaians to reflect on the consequences of poor sanitation and adopt ways to ensure cleaner environments. He commended the government for plans of providing affordable housing toilets facilities to the people in the area.
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