Amasaman school children share KVIP with community

By Edmund Smith-Asante

Community members of Amasaman are competing with about 1,600 schoolchildren of the Amasaman cluster of schools in the use of a nine-hole KVIP, which is supposed to be the place of convenience for the schools.

The schools are the Amasaman MA 1 & 2 Primary schools and the Amasaman JHS 1 & 2.
The only difference is that the schoolchildren use it for free, while members of the Amasaman municipality have to pay a fee of 30Gp, which is double the previous price of 15Gp.

Government sets Nov 1 as National Sanitation Day

By Edmund Smith-Asante & Adwoa Amofa Osei

Nii Lantey Vanderpuye addressing the durbar

The government has set the first day in November this year as a National Sanitation Day. This would be the start of a national clean-up exercise to be observed every first week of the month across the country.

The formal launching of the day, which is intended to bring back communal work days to improve on environmental sanitation, would be held on Friday in Accra.

Ghana needs socio-cultural transformation

By Edmund Smith-Asante

The President of the Full Gospel Church International (FGCI), the Rt Rev. Samuel N. Mensah, has urged pastors to educate their congregations on the need to observe good sanitary practices.

He called for a socio-cultural transformation of the country led by the government, in partnership with religious, traditional and opinion leaders.

Govt declares war on cholera as 128 die

By Edmund Smith-Asante

The government has declared war on cholera to stop its rapid spread across the country. 

The war entails using a “Sword and Shield” strategy, with the sword representing the targets or communities affected and the shield showing the responses to fight the outbreak.

Pay for sanitation services promptly -MMDAs told

By Edmund Smith-Asante

Mr Benjamin Arthur, Executive Secretary, CONIWAS

 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies have been urged to promptly pay for services they receive in connection with sanitation and for which they are obliged by law to do.

World leaders, business executives to meet on climate change

By Edmund Smith-Asante

More than 120 world leaders, business owners, city mayors and civil service organisations (CSOs) are expected to converge in New York, USA, on September 23, for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit on the theme, “Catalysing Action”.

Ghana needs a mining policy

By Edmund Smith-Asante

Which way are we going as a country, Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng seems to be asking at the workshop

Although Ghana is the ninth largest exporter of gold in the world and the second largest in Africa, the country is not earning what is due it because it has no mining policy, the Associate Executive Director of Wacam, a civil society organisation (CSO), Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, has said.

Sack Oko Vanderpuije for incompetence – Leadership expert

By Edmund Smith-Asante

A Leadership Consultant, Rt Rev. Samuel N. Mensah, has called for the dismissal of the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, from office for incompetence.

Tracking of water, sanitation funds stalled by scanty, unavailable data

By Edmund Smith-Asante

Mr Harold Esseku addressing the meeting

A pilot project started to track funding for the water and sanitation (WASH) sector of the country has been stalled by scanty and unavailable data from institutions that receive and utilise such funds.

Govt adopts 100-day contingency plan to fight cholera

By Edmund Smith-Asante

A 100-day contingency plan has been put in place by the government to fight the outbreak of cholera in the country.

The Chairman of the National WASH in Emergencies (WinE) Technical Working Group, Mr Kweku Quansah, who made this known in Accra yesterday, said GH¢213,000 had been set aside for activities to deal with the epidemic across the country.

Scientists push for GMO adoption in Ghana

By Edmund Smith-Asante

Participants at the GAAS forum, with inset, Dr Ibrahim Atokple addressing them.

Two Ghanaian research scientists made a case for Ghana to adopt genetic engineering (GE) or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) instead of sticking to the conventional method of breeding.

While agreeing that conventional plant breeding had been going on for hundreds of years and had dramatically increased the productivity and quality of plants for food, feed and fibre, they maintained that it could no longer be sustained.

Forestry sector needs consolidation of its laws — Forest watch

By Edmund Smith-Asante, DODOWA

Mr Samuel Mawutor

Ghana's Wildlife and Forestry sector is currently governed by 27 different laws which makes for uneasy referencing, the Co-ordinator of Forest Watch, a coalition of non-governmental organisations working to improve forest governance, Mr Samuel Mawutor, has stated.

Septic tanks contribute to climate change - Expert

By Edmund Smith-Asante, TAMALE

PVC behind toilets in houses is common in Ghana

Emission from septic tanks is one of the key ways greenhouses gases which cause climate change, are released into the atmosphere in Ghana, a former official of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has stated.

Sand-winning destroying farmlands — MP

By Edmund Smith-Asante, PARLIAMENT HOUSE

The Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has said sand-winning is destroying many arable lands in the country.

He called Parliament’s attention to the destruction when he presented a statement on the floor of the House.

All Ghanaians to have access to clean water by 2030 – WaterAid

By Edmund Smith-Asante

International development charity, WaterAid, believes everyone in Ghana could gain access to clean drinking water by the year 2030.

It has therefore launched a new interactive map online, which shows that Ghana is on course to reaching the historic mark of everyone in the country having access to clean drinking water by 2030.

PURC says no funds for Community Service Committees

By Edmund Smith-Asante

Although the Act that established the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), enjoins it to establish Community Service Committees (CSCs) across the country, only three have been established to date. The three are in Wa, Obuasi and Takoradi.

Ghana government pledges access to water, sanitation and hygiene for all by 2025

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

From left, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank Group President Dr. Jim Yong Kim and SWA Chair Mr John Agyekum Kufuor

The government has pledged to deliver universal access to safe drinking water, basic toilets and hygiene for all Ghanaians by 2025.

It has also made nine other commitments, which include better financing and coordination, renewal of the national water policy and conducting of a national study on access, for the hardest-to-reach.

30 communities benefit from €625 facility

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Thirty communities in three districts of the country, have been selected as beneficiaries of a three-year European Union (EC)- Non State Actors (NSA) water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facility worth €624,952.

This comprises €499,970 representing 80 per cent of the total amount from the EC and €124,982 making up a 20 per cent contribution from WaterAid Ghana (WAG), which secured the facility under the EC-NSA window in 2013.

‘Africa should develop solutions for its energy challenges’

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE, BACK FROM BRUSSELS

Ms Britta Thomsen (right) being interviewd by  Edmund Smith-Asante

The Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee, Ms Britta Thomsen, has advocated that Africa should develop local solutions for its energy challenges, instead of depending on Europe.

Ghana loses GH¢750m annually due to poor sanitation delivery

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.

2014 HLM: Ghana Govt pledges to invest US$ 170m in water, sanitation

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Even before the third Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High Level Meeting (HLM) gets underway at the World Bank in Washington DC on April 11, 2014, the Government of Ghana has pledged a total annual investment of US$170 million in the water and sanitation sector.

This is made up of an annual injection of US$120 million for water and US$50 million for sanitation.

Ghana:10,000 public schools without toilets

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.MMc4UKdS.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.MMc4UKdS.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.MMc4UKdS.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.MMc4UKdS.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.O7SfiC1h.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.O7SfiC1h.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.O7SfiC1h.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.O7SfiC1h.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.O7SfiC1h.dpuf

Ghana is losing close to GH¢750 million per annum for poor sanitation service delivery, a 2011 World Bank Report has revealed.

The cost incurred is as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths of both adults and children as a result of poor sanitation and girl school dropouts, among many other issues.
A programme officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Kweku Quansah, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic,  cited the time spent to access water “where people travel for close to one hour just to go and fetch water – dirty water. They come home with dirty water and they get sick”.

Report
Quoting from the 2011 report of the World Bank on the “Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Ghana”, Mr Quansah said poor sanitation cost Ghana the equivalent of $290 million annually, which, he indicated, was equal to US$12 per person in Ghana per year or 1.6 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
“It breaks the figure to US$19 million lost each year in access time, with each person spending almost two-and-a-half days a year finding a private place to defaecate and US$54 million spent each year on health care,” he stated.
According to Mr Quansah, the research also said US$215 million was lost each year due to premature death, with approximately 19,000 Ghanaians, including 5,100 children, dying from cholera and US$1.5 million being lost to productivity whilst people were sick or accessing health care.
He explained that more resources were lost  due to the lack of access to improved water sources, although in-depth studies had not been conducted as was the case in sanitation.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development recognises improved water and environmental sanitation as critical drivers of both human and national development.
“Particularly, this impacts negatively on some of the local intervention programmes that we are implementing as a country,” Mr Quansah said.

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20603-ghana-loses-gh-750m-annually-due-to-poor-sanitation-delivery.html#sthash.O7SfiC1h.dpuf

Mrs Kate Opoku

A SURVEY conducted on public schools across the country, has revealed that about 10,000 do not have any toilet facilities.

The number is half of the about 20,000 total number of public schools in Ghana, apart from the thousands of privately owned schools that may not have.

Operational documents for water, sanitation launched

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Alhaji Collins Dauda launching the documents with
the assistance of Mrs Theodora Adomako-Agyei

Four operational documents for Ghana’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector have been launched as part of activities to mark this year’s World Water Day, which falls on March 22.

GWCL moves to support poor water access

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

GWCL Ag Deputy MD, Mr Senyo Amengor

Plans are on course to set up a Low Income Consumer Support Unit (LICSU) at the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), to exclusively deal with unserved areas in the country.

The LICSU is expected to ensure that newly developed and unserved urban settlements are piped and connected to the pipelines of GWCL.

Ghana has potentential for Wind Energy

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE, COPENHAGEN

Windmills in Aalborg, Denmark

Mr Iver Høj Nielsen, Head of Press, State of Green Consortium, a public-private partnership in Denmark leading in the transition to a green growth economy, has said that Ghana has the potential for wind energy.

“South Africa and Ghana have lots of wind,” he told a group of 12 environmental journalists from Ghana, South Africa and Kenya on a Green Growth study tour of Denmark, who visited the office of the consortium referred to as the ‘House of Green’.

Ghanaians to enjoy more power soon as Compact II takes off mid-year

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Mr Bloom giving assurance to all Ghanaians

There may be some relief in sight for power consumers as the country is in the final lap of negotiations for Ghana Compact ll under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) that focuses on the energy sector.

Mr Jonathan O. Bloom, Deputy Vice-President of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for Africa, has given an assurance that the Compact ll was due to take off by the middle of the year.

Water for each Ghanaian reduces from 110 barrels to 48 daily

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Ghana's water availability figure of about 40,000 barrels for each person a year in 1960, going by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) figures, dwindled to about 10,178 barrels annually in 2013.

This means there has been a whooping reduction of about 60 per cent of water that is available to every Ghanaian in the spate of 53 years.