Ghana Loses over 1 Billion Cedis Yearly on Open Defecation

According to data provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Health Observatory data repository, Ghana loses Ȼ1.13 billion every year in ad­dressing the issue of open defecation whilst 3,600 children under five die annually from diarrhoea.
Furthermore, the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) 2014 report indicates that over 5 million Ghanaians defecate in the open.
Ghana has also been ranked seventh as the country with the lowest sanitation coverage.
To address these challenges, the United Nations Chil­dren’s Fund, in collaboration with Alliance Francaise, Ghana has launched an initiative dubbed ‘Let’s Talk Sh*t’, to support the elimination of open defecation.
The objective of the programme is to create awareness around issues pertaining to open defecation and to challenge the social norm on the issue.
The programme is involving Ghanaian artists to ex­press their views on the issues pertaining to open defe­cation through the use of visual arts.
They would be required to create a dialogue with the community using visual arts by exhibiting the pieces of arts to people in their communities.
Speaking at the launch, UNICEF Country Representative, Susan Namondo Ngongi explained that the name of the programme ‘Let’s Talk Sh*t’ was chosen to gen­erate attention on the matter using colloquial words.
She said visual artists help us to see things we do not always see and hope they will produce work of arts that would generate a lot of discussions about open defeca­tion.
Artists, she noted, are very important in generating conversation, and recalled how musicians produced songs to educate people on the need forthorough hand washing during the Ebola outbreak last two years in three West African countries.
She called on journalists and media houses to make the issue on open defecation more public, as well as create the consciousness of people to talk about it.
Mr Kweku Quansah, Programme Officer, Environ­mental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Min­istry of Local Government, in a presentation, stated that access to space has been one of the key determinants to open defecation.
In his presentation, he called on Metropolitan, Mu­nicipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to be more in­novative in their efforts to address the menace.
Nana Osei Kwadwo, Project Manager at the Alliance Francaise for ‘Let’s Talk sh*t programme, said 20 proj­ects from 20 artists will be commissioned at the end of the selection, which is August 8, 2016.
He explained their works would be sent to commu­nities, especially those with a high-level of open defeca­tion practice and educate them on the need to bring a halt to it.