Open Defecation Booms In Ada West District--GSS Report Declares
According to the report released by GSS, the Ada East District has recorded the highest increase in proportion of open defecation and households without toilet facilities in the country.
Freeman Koryekpor 
DATA RELEASED by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) shows that the Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region has been a leading district in Ghana that thousands of residents had predominantly engaged in open defecation without even recourse to the laws governing environmental protection in Ghana.
Article 41(k) in Chapter 6 of the constitution of Ghana requires that all citizens (employees and employers) protect and safeguard the natural environment of the Republic of Ghana and its territorial waters but it appears that the residents in Ada West District particularly those living in villages and towns within the Ningo and Prampram enclaves had fallen down flat to
the laws.
According to the report released by GSS, the Ada East District has recorded the highest increase in proportion of open defecation and households without toilet facilities in the country.
The lack of toilet facilities in the Ada West District--Ningo and Parampram has virtually pushed thousands of residents to engage in unaccepted open defecation, which posed a seriou health danger to the people in the district.
The lack of toilet facilities is making living conditions unbearable of the residents in the district, the Deputy Government Statistician at GSS, Dr Faustina Frempong-Ainguah noted and expressed disappointment about the increasing practice of open defection in Ghana and stressed the need for all Ghanaians to join forces of the government institutions to end open defecation in the 2030.
Dr Frempong-Ainguah made this disclosure when she was speaking at the release of the 2020 & 2021 Comparative Analysis Report on Water & Sanitation and Braille Report on the 2021 Population and Housing Census General Report Highlights in Accra by GSS and Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources including other key development partners such the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and Ghana Union of Blind Union (GBU) which have shown their willingness to support the water and sanitation initiatives.
The occasion was also used by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to release the maiden census reports in braille, audio and large prints to make it easy for people who have difficulty seeing to have access to the 2021 Population and Housing Census report.
The first census publication in braille was published in partnership with the Ghana Blind Union (GBU) as part of the commitment of the GSS to disseminate census data in diverse ways to meet the needs of all data users.
The hundred and forty-one (141) page of sanitation document signed by Government Statistician of GSS, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim catalogues the gains and challenges of the sanitation sector over the past years--that is from 2010 to 2021.
The sanitation report covers the toilet technologies used by households, toilet service levels and defecation points for households without toilet by region, district, and type of locality.
This publication generally targets Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies
(MDAs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), development
partners, civil society organisations (CSOs), private sector, researchers, and the
general public.
The report particularly seeks to provide basic data to MMDAs to assist them achieve their core function as stipulated in the 1993 Local Government Act (Act 462)—that is, to aid decentralized planning and provision of public services in all districts for the development of local economies.
This is important because the 2021
PHC realigned with the 2010 PHC provides the first set of comparative official statistics
on the recently created regions and districts.
The centra premise of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is to “leave no one
behind” requires disaggregated data to inform settlement arrangements, identify areas of sub-national disparities and make vulnerable groups more visible to decision
makers.
This report thus sets the tone for further analysis of disaggregated indicators
on sanitation.
Aside that development, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North Constituency in the Ahafo Region, Honourable Freda Prempeh has also launched 2010 to 2021 Water Report.
The Water report has detailed of Households’ Main Sources of Drinking Water, Households
with source of drinking water on premises, Average
Time Spent by Households without
drinking water on premises to Access Drinking Water, and Households that Use Improved
Water as Main Sources of Drinking Water by region, district, and type of locality.
This publication generally targets Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies
(MDAs),Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), development
partners, civil society organisations (CSOs), private sector, researchers, and the general
public.
The report particularly seeks to provide basic data to MMDAs to assist them achieve their core function as stipulated in the 1993 Local Government Act (Act 462) —that is, to aid decentralized panning and provision of public services in al districts for the development of local economies.
This is important because the 2021 PHC realigned with the 2010 PHC provides the first set of comparative official statistics on the recently created regions and districts.
The central premise of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is to “leave no one
behind,” requires disaggregated data to inform settlement arrangements, identify areas
of subnational disparities and make vulnerable groups more visible to decision makers.
This report thus sets the tone for further analysis of disaggregated indicators on sources of water used by households.
The water report covers a historical overview of Ghana’s water and sanitation sector; institutional developments and sector coordination; performance information on water resources management; urban, rural and small town water supply in 2010; performance information on sector sanitation, hygiene and school WASH in 2010.
The report also provides information on WASH sector financing including contributions from non-state actors to the WASH sector; monitoring, evaluation and sector reporting and makes recommendation for the way forward.
Making power point presentation entitled "Water and Sanitation , 2010and 2021 PHC Comparative," Dr Frempong-Ainguah appealed to all households to own their own toilets, adding that open defecation anywhere is open defecation everywhere.
It is estimated that Ghana loses 79 million dollars annually on open defecation.
Individuals, Institutions and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies who have distinguished themselves in the fight against open defecation were given awards for their outstanding leadership.
However, she was not happy about the increasing trend, disclosing pen defecation is looming in the Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region where some residents in many of the communities have resorted to indiscriminate defecation because the public toilets are not usable.
Whereas some of them engage in 'free range' (defaecating in open spaces), especially around the public toilets, others parcel their faeces in black plastic bags at home and deposit them anywhere in their communities.
She called on the District Chief Executives and Assembly members in the areas to educate the residents to stop indiscriminate practice of open defecation and dumping of refuses.
This sanitation report,which is a collaboration between Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)
and UNICEF,aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the current state of sanitation in Ghana based on data from the 2010 and 2021 PHC.
By examining the progress made, identifying gaps, and analysing the policies and strategies in pace, we can develop targeted interventions to accelerate progress towards achieving
universal access to safe and sustainable sanitation in Ghana.
Various interventions related directly to water and sanitation have been implemented
in targeted districts between the 2010 and 2021 intercession period.
The 2021 PHC provides basic data for evidence-based policy formuation, planning and monitoring of development goals.
A comparative analysis of the 2010 and 2021 Censuses data at the national, regional and district leaves will provide a credible country statistic to assess progress, inform sector policy and strategy, and provide the basis for the final validation session for the Sanitation Financing Assessment.
The comparative analysis will provide the linkages of country data, particularly, that of the 2021 Census, and with the JMP, create the needed sector data awareness and usage.
The focus is to enhance the understanding and linkages between data generated by the GSS (as country data)and those published by the JMP to ensure and promote sector harmony in tracking progress towards the achievements in sanitation outcomes.
In view of this, UNICEF is partnering with GSS to come up with statistics which conform to the JMP standards based on the two censuses to monitor the intervention programmes at al levels.
