UWR unlikely to meet target on open defecation

The Upper West Region’s dream of attaining its target of free from Open Defecation by December 2017 is not achievable.

This is because the Region placed second with an alarming rate of 71.1 percent higher than the national rate of 19 percent, the Environmental Health Service Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has revealed.

The Environmental Health Service Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development said out of every 10 people in the region, seven are practicing Open Defecation (OD).

These concerns were raised at a media training workshop on the “Menace of Open Defecation” held in Wa.

Open Defecation is the act where human faeces are not well covered, popularly known as free range.

The Environmental Health Service Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development organised the forum for 20 media practitioners and journalists with funding from the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF.

The forum was to help train and build the capacity of identified media persons from both the traditional media houses and community radio stations.

It was aimed at equipping them to focus and report appropriately on relevant and related sanitation issues in their regions and districts.

This would help create awareness and publicity on issues of Open Defecation in communities particularly via community radio stations.

Mr. Henry Bagah Upper West Regional Environmental Health Officer said one gram of faeces contains not less than one million germs and the human being gives not less than 12 grams per excreta.

Open Defecation poses health problems such as Cholera and Diarrhoea and stunted growth among children.

Ghana, per statistics in the sub region had made insignificant progress in her fight against poor sanitation issues especially in its cities with nationwide sanitation coverage of 15 percent.

In its fight against poor sanitation in Ghana, UNICEF is supporting the Ministry to implement an Open Defecation Free campaign initiative called “the Community-led Total sanitation “(CLTS) in the three regions in the north, including, Central and Volta Region and Ashiaman District in the Grater Accra region.

Mr. Bagah explained that fighting OD needed sustained education to change the mindset of the people rather than the provision of latrines. Without the change of mindset, people would not move away from the norm of Open Defecation to the use of toilets.

Madam Ama Kudom-Agyemang media Liaison Officer of UNICEF took the participants through researching and packaging sanitation stories to create public interest in sanitation issues.