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A World Bank report says 19,000 Ghanaians die annually from the effects of open defecation and its related poor sanitation diseases.

The outcome is because only one-fifth of the Ghanaian population has access to improved toilet.

The World Bank’s report goes on to point out that Ghana’s economy loses a whopping US$79 million to bad sanitation practices.

Michael Gyato, who is the Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resource said: “Without proper sanitation, most people will fall sick and die out of poor sanitation-related diseases. It is not worth it for Ghana to lose US$17 million to open defecation in this 21st century.

Michael Gyato said these on behalf of Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, the Vice President, at the opening ceremony of the Mole 28th Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Conference in Accra.

He said, “To the NPP government, every pesewa counts in our socio-economic development.

Ghana will make sure that these preventable losses are avoidable.
“And the only way to achieve this is to tackle the problem form all possible angles, especially by giving recognition to the economic value of water, sanitation and good hygiene practices.”

The conference was under the theme: ‘Ghana’s lower middle income status implementation for sustainable WASH delivery.’ To the Vice President, the country is left with no other option then to find a sustainable solution to financing the sanitation sector.

In the light of this, Dr. Bawumia said the sector Ministry has taken measures to develop innovative strategies and plans that would help Ghanaians have access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation by 20130.

In view of this, the Mole participants were entreated to support government to achieve its dream of clean and improve sanitation in the country.

Donnan Tay, the Director of Water at the Ministry of Water at the Ministry of Sanitation, who represented the Sector Minister, stated that over three million Ghanaians do not have access to portable drinking water.

A large number source their drinking water from contaminated points, subsequently increasing the country’s disease burden.
Albeit, he said Ghana was able to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water to some extent, but it missed MDGs for sanitation.

He noted that about 90 percent of Ghanaians are said to have access to improve water, while only 15 percent of the total population have access to basic sanitation.

By these pointers, the sector Minister said it would be difficult for Ghana to achieve the goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on sanitation by 2030, should it fail to put in place practical measures to improve on sanitation.

He said: “Sanitation is not only about provided infrastructure and facilities, but helping people to change their attitudes and behaviors.

“Even though after managing to provide these facilities, sometimes even free of charge, there are people who will still refuse to use them. When you draw a financial support for households to the construction of facilities too, the issue of poverty and vulnerability also shows up.”

In the face of the health-threatening challenges that could make Ghana miss out in the SDGs on sanitation, the Minister explained that his Ministry had sought help from experts to help develop a clear and workable strategy that could address the challenge.

“This is an integrated strategy with an action plan, out of which a policy document has been drafted for Cabinets consideration, to establish a National Sanitation Authority (NSA) as indicated in the national budget statement,” he said.

Last of all, the Ministry would launch a strategy for water and sanitation to pave way for the establishment of NSF.