Re-planning for existing urban housing advocated

Koforidua, July 11, GNA- The Eastern Regional Water and Sanitation Engineer, Mr. Worlanyo Siabi, has advocated a re-planning for existing urban housing to compel their owners to provide sanitary facilities for their tenants in order to curtail the health hazards resulting from inadequate

toilet facilities.

He said it was becoming clear that Ghana would miss key aspects of the United Nations spearheaded Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), "unless we restart differently" and concrete actions to address the situation. Sixty-two per cent of Africans, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, are without any form of toilets while latrine coverage in the Eastern Region is lower than 14 per cent. According to Mr. Siabi, the figures point to a bleak situation on the continent and unless higher latrine coverage is promoted by ensuring a re-planning of existing facilities, Ghana would continue to be plagued with serious health problems. Mr. Siabi made the call when presenting a paper on sanitation and hygiene at the 19th Mole conference on Sanitation, which is being held in Koforidua in the Eastern.

Organized by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), the three-day conference is aimed at galvanizing a multi-sectoral push towards expanding and accelerating coverage on sanitation issues in reaching the goals of the MDG. Mr Siabi said options in promoting sanitation partly hinged on rainwater harvesting but that had been hampered because of revelations that the improper disposal of solid water was affecting the quality of rain water in the country. "The quality of harvested rainwater depends substantially on environmental sanitation, waste collection, disposal and management, but one of the most feared contaminant is faecal matter or waste carried onto roofs of buildings by birds or crawling animals", he explained. He said, if such remedial actions were taken, it could help promote rain harvesting, which, though had a higher initial cost outlay could have a life-span of 50 years compared to a borehole facility.