Ghana’s annual budget could have been further strengthened with $ 79 million yearly if much action were taken to address the menace of Open Defecation.
Unfortunately, the country is rather said to be losing over $ 79 million annually due to the upsurge of Open Defecation (OD) that has bedeviled the nation for far too long.
Country Director of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program of UNICEF, Mr David Duncan made this known in Cape Coast during a two day workshop organised by the Parliamentary Press Corp with sponsorship from UNICEF.
The workshop, which was aimed at building the capacity of the media in the fight against Open Defecation, discussed its negative implications on the national economy.
Mr Duncan decried the slow pace of Ghana’s response to the menace and warned that if care is not taken, it would take the country the next 500 years to curb it.
The nation’s limited resources, which could have been invested in other crucial sectors of the economy are rather channeled to curable diseases caused mostly due to the effects of poor sanitation including open defecation.
Open Defecation results in avoidable diarrhea and cholera cases with huge budgetary demands for drugs to manage cases.
10% of most Ghanaians spent close to 30 minutes accessing toilets since most houses lack toilets whiles government spends close to GHC 200,000 for the construction of public toilets which adds to the challenge.
Ghana’s tourism destinations, especially the beaches become less attractive to tourists due to open defecation.
The economy loses several millions of Ghana cedis as a result of the menace unlike Gambia which has only one tenth of Ghana’s beach resource but makes an annual returns of over $200 million from her attractive beaches.
Communications Consultant on the WASH project for UNICEF, Mrs Ama Kudom Agyemang challenged the members of the Parliamentary Press Corp to be advocates for against Open Defecation.
The workshop was held on the theme: “Open Defecation; A Menace in Ghana”.
BY CHRISTIAN KPESESE
