A study conducted by the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, has revealed that there are still 20,000 pan latrines, which are emptied in opened places.
The study said these pan latrines could be found in Police quarters and public bungalows in metropolis posing health hazards to the population.
Speaking during the opening of a four-day workshop to kick-off the implementation of the Testing Modified Community Led Sanitation (CLTS) scalability project in Accra, Mr Kweku Quansah of the EHSD, said over 20 million people representing about 87 per cent of Ghanaians did not have improved households.
He explained that 12 million Ghanaians representing 51 per cent of the population also did not have any form of toilet facility in their homes, forcing them to practice open defecation, which poses health hazards.
The workshop, organised by Plan Ghana in collaboration with its stakeholders in the sanitation sector, was to kick start the four-year CLTS project designed by Plan International with grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It would be implemented in Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia with different models.
Mr Quansah noted that 4,63 million Ghanaians had no latrines at all in their homes so they defecate in the open causing 5,100 children under five years dying each year due to diahorrea.
He said this negative attitude of open defection caused 70 per cent of all Out Patients Departments in all health facilities, and there was the need for people to have a change of mind.
He said the bye-laws to ban these practices were weak and outmoded and called for review and a stronger enforcement.
�If we really want to meet the MDG (Millennium Development Goal) target of 54 per cent sanitation, then we have to intensify our efforts and change our attitude to bridge the gap of the current 14 per cent to 54 per cent�, he added.
Mr Prem Shukla, Country Director of Plan Ghana, described as unfortunate the statistics from the EHSD and called on stakeholders in the sanitation sector to create sustainable ways of managing communities in a cost-effective and sustainable way.
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