By Angela Ayimbire
Tema, Feb. 22, GNA – The Media Coalition Against Open Defecation (M-CODe) is to launch a nationwide Anti-Open Defecation advocacy aimed at ending the practice of defecating in the open, rather than in a toilet.
Dubbed “M-CODe 2023 Anti-Open Defecation Nationwide Advocacy,” the campaign seeks to rejuvenate public awareness toward the global target of elimination of open defecation (OD) by 2030.
In a statement signed by Mr. Francis Ameyibor, M-CODe National Convenor ahead of the launch of the campaign, said the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goal six required a substantial acceleration in toilet use, stressing that “open defecation is an affront to the dignity, health, and well-being, especially of girls and women.”
According to the statement, M-CODe has also initiated strategic engagement with World Vision Ghana which has been a major backbone of the coalition as well as the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project for Ghana toward scaling up advocacy against open defecation.
The M-CODe revealed that open defecation was scientifically linked with poor sanitation, engagement in unhygienic practices such as not washing hands with soap after open defecation, and spreading germs from one stage to the other.
The M-CODe said there was a need for a sustained shift in the behaviour of whole communities so that a new norm, toilet use by all, is created and accepted.
M-CODe also through the advocacy would engage strategic stakeholders, including Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Ministry of Sanitation, among others, to revamp and sustain the activism to change the parameters and create an open defecation-free society.
The M-CODe 2023 Advocacy would also focus on religious and traditional leaders, media personnel, celebrities, politicians, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other strategic stakeholders in the environmental, health, sanitation, as well as industry players.
The Media Coalition Against Open Defecation also called on the corporate world to support the national efforts of ending open defecation which also requires investment in the construction, maintenance, and use of latrines, and other basic services.
The M-CODe 2023 Anti-OD Nationwide Advocacy would also focus on a series of activities in line with the World Water Day events slated for March 22, and World Toilet Day fixed for November 19.
Both events have the United Nations global theme: “Accelerating Change through Partnerships and Cooperation”.
GNA