Sanitation is dignity indeed!

Source: GNA - Ghana News Agency

Sci/Environment | 4 hours ago

Accra, Nov. 17, GNA -

Kwaku, a 21 year-old man, born and bred in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region, had lived all his life in one of the luxurious mining bungalows.

After obtaining a Diploma in Information Technology at the Koforidua Polytechnic, he decided he would stay with a relative in Accra to seek a job and probably greener pastures.

Kwaku was lucky to have a cousin staying at Akweteman, a suburb of Accra, so his dream to come and stay in Accra really did materialize.

It was one room, probably a boy's quarters to the main building, with about 10 different families living in the house. On the compound of the house was a cemented structure with four sides used as a bathroom, which all the 10 families used.

Even those who were not tenants in the house sometimes came and bathed there.

To his surprise, he realized that there was no toilet in the house, the reason being that the toilet was full and nobody was prepared to pay for it to be emptied, so the landlady broke down the place.

Very early in the morning, Kwaku would walk from Akweteman to the main Achimota Market where a public toilet was situated. He had to be in a queue for hours to empty his bowels. And this wasn't for free, as a patron of the public toilet would have to buy toilet roll or newspaper to clean himself.

When you get the chance to enter the toilet, only half of the problem is solved.

Kwaku says, "There are faeces on some toilet seats and on the floor and one has to employ special acrobatics to empty your bowels."

That aside, this is a man who had no clue that coming to Accra in search of a job would also mean being able to adapt to slum life.

Kwaku's situation makes real the celebration of World Toilet Day, a day set aside to critically consider various sanitation issues.

The celebration of World Toilet Day in Ghana was met with mixed feelings. The first time it was announced on a local radio station in Accra some presenters actually made fun of it.

"World Toilet Day? Hahahaaaa. As for this country we celebrate everything," was one of the radio presenter's comments. It really sounded funny. The media could probably not link the celebration of World Toilet Day with development.

World Toilet Day is set aside to demand proper sanitation for people all over the world, a cause championed by the World Toilet Organization.

This year's celebration, which falls on November 19, is on the theme: "Sanitation is Dignity, Hygiene is Heath."

To some people it is an unnecessary day to celebrate. However, after hearing Kwaku's story, the realization that a country should pay attention to toilet issues becomes real.

It is estimated worldwide that about 2.5 billion people do not have access to toilet and proper sanitation and in Ghana about half of the population is estimated to be using shared toilets or do not have toilets in their homes.

Shared toilets refer to a situation where there may be a house with about 10 different families, as in Kwaku's case, who share the same toilet.

There are still some households in Accra, who use the pan latrine, and better still there are households who do not have water and therefore are not able to flush their toilets.

World Toilet Day was declared in 2001 by the World Toilet Organization of the United Nations to highlight the need for all households in the world to have access to hygienic toilets.

Some people have raised legitimate concerns like, "What are the processes involved in getting a good toilet in one's home?"

Some have said it is very expensive to get a good or proper toilet in one's home.

"Is it right, for instance, to call on government to help or subsidize the processes involved in owning a toilet?" Many questions are raised when it comes to the issues of sanitation.

Emptying the bowels is a very important act in the lives of every individual.

However, when about half of a country's population has to go through such indignity to empty their bowels, it is nothing compared to development.

Major T. N.K. Awuah (Rtd), Director of Metro Sewage Services, said the Accra Metropolitan Assembly had given a one-year ultimatum to businesses and households in the Metropolis who did not have toilets to put in place toilet facilities at their premises or be prosecuted.

"Therefore, household and businesses that do not have toilet facilities come October, 2011 will be prosecuted," he said.

Meanwhile, the Assembly has banned the use of pan latrines and those found to be using it would be arrested effective January 2011.

Major Awuah said the Metropolis also had its own challenges, one of which was the urgent need to find an alternative arrangement to dump the city's liquid waste.

"The Mayor has given instructions that dumping liquid waste at 'Lavender Hill', where the liquid waste is dumped into the sea, must stop," he said, adding "we are seriously working to end that by the end of the year."

However, he said, all was not lost since the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the Accra Sewage Improvement Project (ASIP) was targeting 4,200 households to support them with toilet facilities.

Under ASIP, households would be made to apply for a financial facility to enable them to own a toilet in their homes and pay back in monthly instalments so that other people would also benefit from the money which is a revolving fund.

As Ghana pursues the Better Ghana agenda, let us all remember that having access to good sanitation is also a development issue.

Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, last year went to Nima, a suburb of Accra, in the early hours of the morning, as they queued to empty their bowels and described the situation as "unacceptable".

In the Deputy Minister's own words, "It is unacceptable to live such lives."

As Ghana joins the rest of the world to mark World Toilet Day on November 19, let us remember that sanitation is indeed dignity.

GNA
A GNA Feature by Hannah Asomaning 

Source: http://www.modernghana.com/newsp/304899/1/pagenum/sanitation-is-dignity-indeed.html#continue

Dying of thirst – Challenges of accessing clean water

 

Badukrom is a small village in the tropical rain-forest of the Western Region of Ghana, close to the popular mining town of Tarkwa.

One of its major challenges is that it has only one borehole serving the entire community numbering a few hundreds and when it breaks down those fortunate to have dug wells would depend on them for their water needs until the pump is serviced.

In the event that the well runs dry whilst the pump has not been serviced, the members of the community would have no choice than to rely on any water they can lay hands on.

The people of Badukrom, despite the tricky situation they find themselves in, may be considered lucky in that they at least for most part of the year are able to draw water from a functioning borehole pump.

Although water is an essential commodity, without which there will be no life on earth, many communities, both in Ghana and worldwide go through struggles each day, just to access their daily needs.

This commodity which holds the key to all life forms is getting scarcer each day, week, month and passing year and this continued scarcity has largely been attributed to mismanagement of the resource by man.

It is in view of this that the United Nations General Assembly in 1992, designated March 22 as World Water Day to raise public awareness about the dwindling resource, call attention to what is regarded as the world’s major health issue – the global scarcity of clean water and to promote the conservation and development of global water resources.

The Day is marked every year worldwide with a host of events and programmes.

According to the 2nd UN World Water Development Report, more than a billion people, who constitute almost one-fifth of the world’s population lack access to safe drinking water, while 40 percent lack access to basic sanitation.

In an interview with Larry West, About.com Guide, Gary White, Executive Director and co-founder of WaterPartners International, a non profit organisation committed to providing clean drinking water to communities in developing countries, said the global water crisis is the leading cause of death and disease in the world, taking the lives of more than 14,000 people each day, 11,000 of them children under age 5.

He said in addition to the health problems, women and girls spend more than 200 million hours every day walking to collect water from distant, often polluted sources—time that could be better spent on more productive endeavours such as work and school. “When you combine these factors, it’s clear that the global water crisis is the single biggest problem facing the world’s poor, preventing them from reaching even the first rung on the socioeconomic ladder,” he said.

Garry White continued that the leading cause of child death in the world is diarrhoea, with children under age five suffering 1.5 billion episodes of diarrhoea each year, four million of which are fatal. “Even for the children who survive, this chronic diarrhoea prevents them from thriving as they should. And for older girls, the responsibilities of carrying water are a leading cause of dropping out of school,” he stated.

Billions lack clean water

For its part, Earth Talk, a regular feature of E/The Environmental Magazine quotes the World Bank as saying as many as two billion people lack adequate sanitation facilities to protect them from water-borne disease, while a billion lack access to clean water altogether. It continues that according to the United Nations, which has declared 2005-2015 the “Water for Life” decade, 95 percent of the world’s cities still dump raw sewage into their water supplies, hence it should come as no surprise to know that 80 percent of all the health maladies in developing countries can be traced back to unsanitary water.

Read more:  http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2010/03/22/dying-of-thirst-%E2%80%93-challenges-of-accessing-clean-water/

Government to implement sustainable environmental strategies – Mahama

Vice President John Mahama

Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Monday promised that government would implement sustainable environmental programmes that would find lasting solutions to the country’s environmental challenges.

“Since our resources are limited, our priorities over the years have focused on health, education, infrastructural development and good governance sector with less emphasis on our natural resources and environment and the question I want to ask is how do we ensure that development does not take place at the expense of the environment?”

Vice President Mahama was inaugurating an 11-member Advisory Council of Environmental and Natural Resources at his office at the Castle, Osu.

The Council, of which he is the Chairman, would among other functions, assist government to assess the risks and opportunities of policies and identify appropriate mechanisms to ensure that sound environmental management contributed towards economic growth.

Other members of the council include; Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Madam Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and Dr. Oteng Adjei, Minister of Energy.

The rest are Mr. Alban Bagbin, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr. Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Dr. Osei Boeh-Ocansey, Private Enterprise Foundation, Professor Nabila, President, National House of Chiefs and Dr. Yao Graham, Third World Network.

He said climate change and environmental degradation were phenomenal and could impact negatively on agriculture, health, energy and water resources, land and natural resources, oil and gas and mining and  therefore required inter-sectoral and inter-ministerial management approach.

The Vice President appealed to members to be committed and dedicated to their roles and responsibilities to ensure the total achievement of the aims, goals and objectives of the council.

Madam Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology mentioned some of the serious environmental challenges as poor waste management and sanitation.

“Research indicates that about 80 per cent of the diseases prevalent in our communities are sanitation-related and improving the management of waste and reducing filth in our cities remains a top priority for government.”

She gave the assurance that the council would also tackle serious challenges of biodiversity loss, deforestation, forest degradation, land degradation, pollution of fresh water bodies and marine environment.

Source: GNA

http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2010/05/08/government-to-implement-sustainable-environmental-strategies-mahama/

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