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Mr Yaw Attah Arhin, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Technical Specialist at World Vision Ghana, has disclosed that Ghana loses US$290 million every year due to poor sanitation, which affects the health sector.
He said an additional US$79 million is also lost due to open defecation, and 3,600 people died every year from diarrhoea alone. Mr Arhin disclosed these in Tamale during the official launch of a Campaign for Improved Sanitation by Master Abdul Faraj Yazid Timtoni Wumbei, Child Sanitation Diplomat, on the topic: “The Basic Sanitation Situation in the Northern Region of Ghana – Reflections and Prospects”.
This child-focused national sanitation challenge is organised annually by World Vision Ghana and in collaboration with its partners, Kings Hall Media Limited, GAMA Sanitation and Water Project of the then Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, Zoomlion Foundation, and Ghana Education Service to build capacity of children to co-create sustainable solutions to the sanitation challenges in the Northern Region.
The project is to influence children to cultivate keen interest in issues of environmental sanitation, become sanitation conscious and agents of change, and to sensitise and build capacity of children on issues of environmental sanitation.
It is also to empower children to co-create sustainable solutions to environmental sanitation challenges around them, and to advocate the removal of barriers and increased access to improved sanitation, particularly in basic schools. Mr Arhin advised stakeholders to come on board to introduce innovative financing arrangements to ensure every household had a toilet facility.
He said stakeholders should invest in behaviour change communication strategies to reorient the mindset of citizens. He said it was important to emphasize that water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and services were vital components of a conducive school environment, the absence of which compromised quality teaching and learning.
Mr Arhin said due to the challenges, World Vision Ghana and its partners found the lack of access to safe drinking water and toilet facilities in schools not only regrettable but also very worrying, especially when the few available toilet facilities did not have changing rooms for girls, which did not make the school environment conducive or friendly to the girl child particularly, those who had to deal with menstrual hygiene management on a monthly basis.
He said, “As an organisation, whose vision for every child is life in all its fullness, we believe that nothing can be more important to child wellbeing than access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene.” He appealed to government, development partners and members of the public to come out with techniques to ensure sustainable access to improved sanitation in Ghana.
Mr Ali Adolf John, Northern Regional Minister, pledged his support to advocate strongly to make sanitation a top priority in the development agenda of the region. Master Adbul Faraj Yazid Timtoni Wumbei is a 14-year-old Junior High School three student of Grace Holy Child Academy in Tamale, who emerged the overall winner of the 5th edition of the nationwide School Sanitation Solutions Challenge in 2024.
He was thus designated as Child Sanitation Diplomat to be supported to implement a one-year sanitation project in the country with a special focus on the Northern Region. Master Wumbei pledged his commitment to support stakeholders to address poor sanitation in schools in the Northern Region.
Source: GNA
