STATEMENT BY HON. ISSAHAKU CHINNIA AMIDU DEPUTY MINISTER FOR SANITATION AND WATER RESOURCES AND MP FOR SISSALA EAST, ON THE FLOOR OF PARLIAMENT ON COMMEMORATION OF THE 2022 WORLD TOILET DAY
ON WEDNESDAY 16TH NOVEMBER 2022
Mr. Speaker, This Saturday 19th November 2022, Ghanaians will mark the commemoration of yet another World Toilet Day. The Day was set aside by the United Nations for member countries to undertake various advocacy and awareness raising activities to remind their citizens of the need to own and use hygienic toilets at their homes, schools, workplace and what have you.
Mr. Speaker, The World Toilet Day is observed every year on 19th November by all UN Member countries. This international day of action aims at breaking the taboo around toilets and to raise global awareness of the daily struggle for proper toilets that a staggering 2.5 billion people around the world face. The main reason for commemorate this day is to unite everybody who is passionate about toilets to ensure that access to improved toilets, which has been declared a Human Right issue by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/64/292 on 28th July 2010, becomes a reality for all.
Mr. Speaker, This year, the World Toilet Organization and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council are joining forces to encourage different groups such as media, development organizations, the private sector, civil society and politicians to advocate and take action for safe improved toilets for the ‘toiletless’ in the world. Over the past decade, World Toilet Day has become an important platform to raise awareness, inspire advocates and demand action from our leadership at all levels.
Mr. Speaker, the theme for this year’s commemoration is “Sanitation and Groundwater” with campaign tag “Making the Invisible Visible”. This theme was carefully selected to drum home the direct correlation between Sanitation and Groundwater sources. Juxtaposing this theme with the fact that a whooping 18% of households in Ghana still practice open defecation or do not have access to toilets at all, should be a major concern for all well-meaning Ghanaians.
Mr. Speaker, we are here today because the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources wishes to emphasize the importance of toilets in the lives of every Ghanaian. There is the need for everybody to reflect on the need to build, own and use improved toilet facilities at home. It is critical for people and institutions at large to understand that the moment one person practices open defecation, everybody’s life is endangered. We want all Ghanaians to reflect on the difference between life with a toilet at home and life without a toilet at home. Let us imagine a day without a toilet facility in the life of a school child especially a girl child.
Mr. Speaker, It is sad to note that in today’s world where modern technology is penetrating the farthest outskirts of this planet, a silent crisis is taking place and seriously affecting the health, well-being, dignity and development of millions of people.
Mr. Speaker, It is interesting to note that just One gram of faeces can contain 10 million viruses, a million bacteria, a thousand cysts and a hundred worm eggs. The impact of poor or non-existent toilet facilities on people’s health, their quality of life, their dignity and their income, is overwhelming. This makes safe disposal of human faeces a key concern for all.
Mr. Speaker, It is estimated that at any given moment, half of the developing world’s people are sick from diseases associated with unsafe water and improper sanitation. The health systems, as well as individuals, are paying a high price for this. According to the World Health Organization, if everyone had access to safe sanitation and water, the world’s health sectors would save around $12 billion per year.
Mr. Speaker, in all these discussions, the hardest hit are children. Diarrhoeal diseases, a direct consequence of inadequate sanitation, are the second leading cause of death of young children under 5 years of age, in developing countries, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
Mr. Speaker, lack of proper toilet facilities is in no small way contribute to poverty and undermine the economic and social development of a country like Ghana. Recent studies by UNICEF revealed that investing in sanitation brings prosperity and growth. Each dollar spent on sanitation gives an economic return of 5 dollars. Toilets have thus good investment outcomes for any country.
Mr. Speaker, Although the sanitation crisis comes from a set of complex causes, the prime reason is that nobody likes to talk about toilets, and too few nations and local governments give sanitation the priority it deserves. What the sanitation challenge needs is leadership: politicians and decision makers, the international community, religious authorities, businesses, media, and local communities need to learn, speak out and act on issues of sanitation.
Mr. Speaker, Additionally, Sanitation directly impacts the lives of women and girls. Every day, millions of women and girls lack privacy and have to wait for dusk to relieve themselves, often a dangerous practice which predisposes them to sexual harassment and rape. According to a Report titled ‘’Out of Order – The State of the World’s Toilets’’ published by Water Aid in 2017, proper sanitation facilities are also instrumental for women and girls during menstruation, who need space for washing and somewhere to dispose of sanitary pads. Especially for adolescent girls, a clean and private toilet impacts their school performance. However, menstruation and its management remain far too often hidden in a culture of silence due to lack of toilets and changing rooms.
Mr. Speaker, Girls who don’t have decent toilets at school or near home have to defecate in the open or use unsafe, unhygienic toilets, often shared with boys. Aside from the health risks, this is uncomfortable, embarrassing and puts them at risk of verbal and even physical abuse. To avoid the embarrassment, they will often avoid eating and drinking during the day, making it hard to concentrate at school. Once they start their periods, girls are more likely to miss classes or drop out if there is not a decent toilet at school. It is estimated that in sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 10 girls miss school during their period.
Mr. Speaker, Everyone has a right to health and dignity, and women and girls have specific needs too. Meeting these requires their equal and active participation in decision- making about sanitation and hygiene. Female biological needs make a lack of toilets particularly harmful for women and girls, from birth, through childhood, into puberty, throughout adult life, and into old age.
Mr. Speaker, the effect of lack of access to improved toilets contribute to the death of 3,600 children under five die annually in Ghana according to World Health Organization 2015 Global Health Observatory data repository on Ghana. The main cause of these avoidable deaths is diarrhoea, which is also attributed to open defecation or use of unsafe toilets.
Mr. Speaker, it is an undeniable fact that Ghanaians are paying a high price for lack of toilets in their homes. Ghana loses over US$290 million every year according to Water and Sanitation Programme of the World Bank 2012 study titled ‘’Economic Impacts of Poor Sanitation in Ghana’’. Economic cost of open defecation to Ghana is also pegged at US$79 million. Improved sanitation could save families and individuals a lot of income and time and hence improve their livelihood and give them economic empowerment.
Mr. Speaker, A World Bank country environmental analysis conducted in Ghana has shown that health costs resulting from poor water, sanitation and hygiene cost the country the equivalent of 2.1% of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The indirect effects of malnutrition, to which poor water and sanitation contribute 50%, according to WHO, cost even more than the direct effects, taking the total health cost to 5.2% of annual GDP in Ghana.
This Study also demonstrates that poor water and sanitation significantly contribute to malnutrition, which leads to lower school productivity and work productivity from impaired cognitive function and learning capacity. Rates of moderate and severe stunting and underweight are high in children under five in Ghana, at 29% and 14%, respectively.
Mr. Speaker, Poor and lack of toilets can have larger scale effects. First, it can impact on foreign tourists choosing Ghana as their holiday destination. Second, it can affect business and play an influential role in where foreign businesses invest their money. Emerging evidence from Asia suggests that a country’s reputation of poor environment and an unhealthy workforce can affect the earning power of foreign currencies, and hence hinder economic growth. Furthermore, as the effects of climate change are felt, with increased predictions of extremes such as flooding and droughts, it will become even more important to invest in appropriate toilets to ensure the availability and safety of these facilities, as well appropriate sanitation options that do not further stress water supplies nor pollute dwindling water resources.
Mr. Speaker, the other benefits of improved sanitation rarely captured in economic studies are ‘intangible’ impacts, so-called because they are difficult to measure. These aspects may include dignity, comfort, privacy, security, and social acceptance. An undeniable basic need is to have a near-by, safe and private place to defecate, and this is especially true for women, the elderly, the sick and also children. Improved adequate Toilet facilities at schools can improve school enrolment, attendance and completion, and at the workplace can increase female participation at the workplace. Hence toilets promote social equality and economic growth.
Mr. Speaker , investing in Toilets is not only politically popular and socially beneficial, but it makes good economic sense. Economic evidence supports that attaining country’s SDG targets to achieve universal and adequate sanitation coverage does not only improve quality of life, but also bring tangible health, environmental and economic benefits. Improving access to sanitation contributes importantly to the achievement of other SDG targets.
Mr. Speaker, the country’s medium-term plan for 2022-2025 sets that 61.85% of the total population will have access to at least basic sanitation services, with 45% having access to safely managed liquid sanitation services.
Also, the country’s pledge to the UN SDGs to achieve equitable and adequate sanitation for all and end open defecation will be due in less than 8 years from now. In practice, this will require that nearly 2 million people should have access to basic sanitation service each year until 2030. Achieving these objectives will require a coordinated, cost effective and inclusive response. As a country, we need to invest a minimum of GH¢ 12.24 billion capital investment alone which translate into containment costs, emptying and treatment cost and Institutional facilities.
The health impacts of poor sanitation trap people in poverty, making it difficult to get educated or work to support their families.
It goes without saying that everyone without this basic human right called toilet is affected, but it is worse for some than others. For example, women and girls, older people, and people with disabilities are affected most.
Mr. Speaker, Ghana has committed to ending open defecation and achieving access to ‘safely managed’ sanitation for all by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), paying special attention to the needs of women and girls. However, progress made to date has not been fast enough, and, this needs to change.
Mr. Speaker, to reverse this gloomy picture about Ghana as far as access to toilets is concerned, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources in collaboration with all key stakeholders will among others, undertake the following;
Pursue aggressively the one-house one toilet initiative to ensure households get decent toilets in their homes. In the next one year a total of 200,000 toilets will be added to the toilet stock in the country
Facilitate the construction of toilet facilities in selected schools and health facilities across the country
Collaborate with the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General to set specific days aside to trial sanitation cases, which include construction of toilets
Collaborate with Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development and in effect its MMDAs to ensure toilets and other sanitary facilities in public institutions are kept clean and safe at all time.
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to inform you that no cholera outbreak has been reported in Ghana since 2017.
While I commend the NPP Government, under the able leadership of H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, for pragmatic measures put in place to address the challenges of access to sanitation, let me take this opportunity to thank WASH Stakeholders and Partners within the for their support all these years. Partners like UNICEF, World Bank, WHO, Water Aid, Plan Ghana, Catholic Relief Services, Global Communities, USAID, World Vision Ghana, IRC, SNV, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Rotary Club and CONIWAS have been very supportive to my Ministry, for which we are very grateful.
In a country where the are more mobile phones per household than toilets we need to continue talking about the need to have toilets in all homes and institutions in Ghana. This I believe will help maximize the health, economic and social benefits of toilets among the good people of Ghana. Let us advocate and stand up for the ‘toiletless in Ghana.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity.
