|
Government to work towards phasing out
pan latrines
Koforidua, April 4, GNA - Ghana is working towards
phasing-out pan latrines as part of measures to tackle
perennial sanitation related epidemics such as cholera.
Under a new policy to that effect, about 90 per cent of all
households in the country are to be made to have access to
decent toilet facilities.
Government is additionally considering proposals that would
lead to the provision of community toilets of acceptable
standards to transient populations.
This is part of an integrated approach towards ensuring that
10 per cent of the nation's population have access to
hygienic public toilets.
These are part of proposals being deliberated upon at a
consultative workshop underway at Koforidua on Tuesday as
part of the process towards revising the National
Environmental Sanitation Policy.
The workshop was the third in a series that seeks to collate
views and best practices on how to reposition the nation's
sanitation policy to reflect environmental sanitation needs
and challenges of the country.
Participants from the Eastern, Volta, Central and Greater
Accra regions are attending.
Experts from the University of Cape Coast, the Ghana Health
Service among others are teaming up with District Chief
Executives and officials of the Ministry of Local
Government, Rural Development and Environment on how to
align the nation's sanitation process in line with the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs.)
Opening the workshop the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister,
Ms Suzzy Mensah, urged the participants to take advantage of
the workshop to find durable solutions to the sanitation
problems facing the country.
She welcomed proposals in the document that seek to develop
a systematic approach and framework for identifying and
harnessing resources in pushing the economy forward.
Ms Mensah said Ghana's aspiration of becoming a
middle-income earning country requires a clear strategy to
overcome its shortcomings.
Eastern Regional Environmental Health Officer, Mr F.K. Quist,
called for the establishment of sanitation courts in the
district to help arrest the falling sanitation situation in
the country.
GNA
|
