Ansah, GNA
Gushegu (N/R) July, 16, GNA – Thirteen
communities in the Gushegu Municipality of the Northern Region at the end of
2017 were declared Open Defecation (OD) free.
Early this year, 17 more communities in the
Municipality had also received the OD free status, by the Regional Interagency
Coordinating Committee on Sanitation (RICCS).
Mr Felix Apeti, Gushegu Cluster Manager of
World Vision Ghana (WVG) speaking to journalists during field visits to the
area explained that being declared OD free meant that households in these
communities had shunned OD by building latrines in their homes.
He explained that WVG together with its
partners in the Gushegu had planned to work assiduously by putting in all
efforts to ensure that more communities to complement government’s efforts to
attained OD free status.
Mr Apeti, noted that WVG together with its
partners introduced the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, that
engaged communities to recognise areas where OD occured and taking their own
actions to become totally free of OD.
He explained that with the CLTS approach, a
community was made to lead in behavioural change through mapping out of
defecating routes and engaged in a walk of shame, during which the reality and
consequences of their OD behaviour were brought to light.
“After this, members of the community were
educated on the importance of observing proper sanitation practices and
assisted technically to build their own latrines with inexpensive materials, so
they desist from defecating openly,” he said.
He stated that the interventions in the water,
sanitation and hygiene had reduced the prevalence rate of infectious diseases
in Gushegu and the OD affected the health and survival of children under-five
diarrhoea among children in the Gushegu Municipality.
Mr. Musah Issah, Municipal Chief Executive of
Gushegu speaking in an interview confirmed that the Municipality placed fourth
in the OD district table.
“A year before we were occupying the 15th
position. Together with other stakeholders we are becoming one of the best
districts in the country,” he said.
There is a law the assembly was enforcing that
mandated that all persons without toilet in their site plans should not be
given the permit.
Regarding already built houses, he said the
law would compelled them to build a toilet and failure to do that attracted
prosecution.
The 2017 Ghana Health Service Annual Report
indicates that under-five diarrhoea among children in the Gushegu Municipality
had reduced from 70.96 per cent in 2008 to 6.96 per cent in 2017.
GNA