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.