The Ashanti Regional chapter of Media Coalition Against Open Defecation has been launched in Kumasi with a call on the media to help champion the fight against the open defecation in the region.
The coalition, in collaborating with the government, is geared towards putting pragmatic measures in place to end open defecation in the country to help make Kumasi one of the cleanest cities.
The formation of the Coalition is premised on the belief that about six million Ghanaians defecate in the open on a daily basis.
According to the group, available statistics revealed that one out of every five Ghanaians defecates openly daily.
This, it said, represents close to 6 million people, and also estimated that the act costs the country some US$79 million annually through tourism loss, water pollution, and death, especially among children of five years.
Mr. Emmanuel Addai, Convener of the coalition, said at the launching that the group was determined to support the crusade against open defecations in Ghana through a coordinated and more aggressive policy influence and public sensitisation.
He disclosed that the coalition plans to challenge institutions connected to the fight to work harder by intensifying public sensitisation through community outreach programmes.
Mr. Addai entreated the government, and for that matter, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to direct all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to develop and publicise roadmaps for the eradication of open defecation.
He stated that the government must also establish an annual budget with the road map, while demanding a total ban on open defecation in the country.
The leadership of the Media Coalition Against Open Defecation (M-CODe) tasked journalists in the Ashanti Region to expose communities and sites in the districts and regions which indulge in the notorious act of open defecation.
He also tasked the media to challenge the relevant authorities and leaders to act by putting in place proactive measures that will kick out factors causing open defecation and those affecting sanitation.
Mr. Addai expressed worry over the statistics and status-quo of sanitation in Ghana, indicating that 30 percent of basic schools lack toilet facilities.
He disclosed that majority of health institutions faced the same challenges, adding that a number of Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds, clinics and health facilities in the country at the moment have no toilet facilities, and that staff resort to open defecation in the bush as the only option.
According to the M-CODe Convener, the remaining 70% who are somehow fortunate also have lavatories that are badly conditioned.
Mr. Addai also revealed the disturbing and causative factor of open defecation as the inadequate decent and affordable toilet facilities on the various highways, the reason, he said, compelled passengers to defecate in the bush in the course of their journey.
Mr. Addai also appealed to the government to develop a road map for the eradication of open defecation, and promote the sanitation model and strategy,and others which includes support for small sanitation businesses, sustain the national Open Defecation Free (ODF) campaign, make ODF a performance indicator, develop a PSI on ending open defecation, provide toilets in all schools and healthcare facilities, and establish the National Sanitation Authority to provide decent and affordable toilets on all major highways among others.
The post Ashanti chapter of Media Coalition Against Open Defecation launched appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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