Nandom advances in achieving Open Defecation Free mark

By
Charles Chedar, GNA

Wa, (U/W), Oct 18, GNA – Upper West Regional
Coordinating Committee on Sanitation and Single Nucleotide Variants (SNV) Ghana
have expressed satisfaction over significant progress made by Nandom District
to attaining Open Defecation Free (ODF) conditions.

The meeting convened in Wa sought to inform
stakeholders in sanitation about activities being pursued by agencies to stop
communities from defecating in the open and stick to cleaner hygiene.

Madam Freda Naatu, the Upper West Regional
Environmental Health Officer, told journalists that the SNV Ghana started
operating in Nandom and Lawra districts in 2014 to assist in ending the
“menace” in the two districts.

She noted that in December 2017 Nandom
attained about 90 per cent ODF, while Lawra came out with 86 per cent in the
district wide rating.

“Nandom is the first district which achieved
this remarkable performance of 96 per cent of Open Defecation Free (ODF)
district wide in the country”, she said.

The Nandom District Environmental Health
Officer, Mr Jerry Sabogu Yakubu, said the district has 88 communities and 84 of
them represented the 96 per cent scored the ODF, but added that the remaining
four communities would be covered soon to make the district reach the 100 per
cent mark.

He attributed the successes chalked out to the
traditional leaders and the sanitation officers who he described as supportive.

However, Mr Sabogu said Nandom communities in
dispersed settlements made the construction of latrines a challenge.

Mr Jerry also said the District Assembly was
expected to implement workable by-laws to ensure people who do not have
latrines in their houses begin to arrange for some to help to achieve the 100
per cent ODF before the year ends.

GNA