Mr. Yaw Atta Arhin, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Technical Specialist, World Vision Ghana, has stated that open defecation was a threat to public health.
He has urged stakeholders and policy makers in the Water and Sanitation sector to put pragmatic measures in place to speed up the fight against open defecation, as a threat to public health.
He has also urged the government, through policy makers, to collaborate with all stakeholders in the sector to launch and implement the roadmap for ending open defecation, establish a National Sanitation Authority to enforce the building code and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) bye-laws, adopt and implement innovative approaches to ensure increased access to household toilets.
According to him, although Ghana had achieved notable progress in terms of access to safe water, it was disappointing that the same could not be said about environmental issues.
The Technical Specialist was of the view that progress towards ending open defecation and ensuring improved sanitation for all continued to be very slow.
Speaking to The Chronicle in Kumasi during the establishment of the Media Coalition on Open Defecation (M-CODe) on the Open Defecation Free Stakeholder Engagement Platform, as well as the launch of the Eastern Regional branch of the M-CODe, he stated that, the goal of the training was to hasten the fight against the practice in the area, because the country depended on its eradication by 2030.
Mr. Arhin tasked the M-CODe to step up its efforts across the nation through creative campaigns, the employment of well-known individuals as open defecation-free ambassadors, and the regular use of conventional and social media.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, M-CODe National Convenor, noted that the media coalition aimed to foster collaboration among media professionals and other stakeholders in order to identify problems and operational gaps, and work towards a common objective in the battle against open defecation.
Mr. Ameyibor expressed the need for stakeholders to collaborate with the media in order to end open defecation.
He commended World Vision Ghana for supporting the “M-CODe 2023 Anti-Open Defecation Nationwide Advocacy” efforts, which included the journalist empowerment event and launch.
