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World Toilet Day observed in Namoranteng

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The Chiefs and people in Namoranteng a community in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region have observed the World Toilet Day with a call on the people in the area to desist from practicing open defecation.

The event which forms part of activities to commemorate the World Toilet Day is organized by the Catholic Relief Services, CRS.

Some of the communities in the Talensi District which have been declared open defecation free include Namoranteng, Tolla, Degaare, Sakorit-Dabore, Nandoya ‘A’ and ‘B’, Shia ‘A’ and ‘B’ Sapat, Buun, Dapore, Laabisi among others.

Ghana has been ranked second after Sudan in Africa for open defecation, with five million Ghanaians not having access to any toilet facility.

The country has also been performing poorly with sanitation coverage of only 15 percent, making the practice of open defecation a key sanitation challenge because people do not have access to key basic facilities.

The poor sanitation issues has cost the country $79million a year and also posed the greatest danger to human health, particularly for the most vulnerable, including young children.

Research has shown that the country has made zero progress in improving sanitation facilities for citizens, with urban situation being better than the rural areas.

The Upper East Region has the highest open defecation rate with 89 percent, followed by Northern Region with 72 percent and Upper West Region with 71 percent.

The Head of Programs of the ICOWASH at the CRS, Emmanuel Kojo, said the ICOWASH project employs the Community-led Total Sanitation, CLTS, approach, hygiene promotion and behavior change communication strategies involving issues on handwashing, safe water storage, food hygiene and menstrual hygiene management.

He revealed that the ICOWASH project is constructing over 150 gender-sensitive and disability-friendly latrines in 80 schools and health centers in their operational area.

Speaking on this year’s theme of the World Toilet Day, “When Nature Calls”, the Head of Programs of the Catholic Relief Services, Carolyn Edlebeck, said the theme reminds us to apply nature-based sanitation solutions in harnessing the power of ecosystem to help treat human waste before it returns to the environment.

These, she noted, essentially involve the protection and management of vegetation, soils, wetlands, rivers and lakes. Ms. Edlebeck spoke about the event organized by CRS.

The District Chief Executive for Talensi, Dr. Christopher Boatbil, revealed that UNICEF is supporting the Talensi District with an amount of thirty-five thousand Ghana cedis for the implementation of Community-Led Total Sanitation, CLTS.

Dr. Boattbil said CRS is collaborating with Talensi District o implement a 3-year integrated community water, sanitation and Hygiene Management Project, ICOWAH, with funding of six-point-four billion dollars by Helmsley Charitable Trust of USA.

He said the ICOWASH project seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of over 152,300 school children and adults in the Talensi District.

Dr. Boatbil congratulated the 16 communities in the district that have been declared Open Defecation Free and charged the remaining communities in the district to emulate same.

The event brought together chiefs, queen mothers among other functionaries.

 

Story by GBC’s Samuel Ayammah

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