Bolgatanga, June 15, GNA- Communities in the Bolgatanga Municipality openly defecate a menace which is the source of worry to stakeholders in the area with the onset of rains.

Mr Juventus Asanyuure, the Upper East Regional Director of Environmental Health and Sanitation Agency, said none of the communities in the municipality is free from open defecation despite the sensitisation programmes being carried out.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, he said only Dugbila, a suburb of Bolgatanga attained the status of Open Defecation Free (ODF)in 2014, but over time, the lack of monitoring and continuous sensitisation in communities had reduced the status attained by the area including all the other communities.

He said a Sanitation Fund was being piloted in the Garu area, aimed at promoting sanitation by encouraging the people to access the fund to build toilet facilities in their homes.

The revolving fund which only supplies raw materials and payment of artisans for the construction of the facility is financed by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) working in collaboration with the Environmental and Sanitation Agency and Vision Find, a micro-finance company, he said.

“Assemblies do not prioritise sanitation and therefore we can talk and do all the advocacy, yet people still go back to the practice of ODF,” he stressed.

The director, therefore, called on Municipal and District Assemblies in the region to be proactive and invest in sanitation issues to reduce fifth and stop open defecation in communities.

Mr Asanyuure urged the Assemblies to support Environment Health and Sanitation staff with fuel and logistics to go to communities to engage people on OD, as well as enforce the sanitation bye-laws.

The Global Goals on sanitation, goal six, calls for the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all and to achieve this by the year 2030, there must be equitable sanitation and hygiene, to end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women, girls and the vulnerable, he said.

GNA

Bolgatanga, June 15, GNA- Communities in the Bolgatanga Municipality openly defecate a menace which is the source of worry to stakeholders in the area with the onset of rains.

Mr Juventus Asanyuure, the Upper East Regional Director of Environmental Health and Sanitation Agency, said none of the communities in the municipality is free from open defecation despite the sensitisation programmes being carried out.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, he said only Dugbila, a suburb of Bolgatanga attained the status of Open Defecation Free (ODF)in 2014, but over time, the lack of monitoring and continuous sensitisation in communities had reduced the status attained by the area including all the other communities.

He said a Sanitation Fund was being piloted in the Garu area, aimed at promoting sanitation by encouraging the people to access the fund to build toilet facilities in their homes.

The revolving fund which only supplies raw materials and payment of artisans for the construction of the facility is financed by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) working in collaboration with the Environmental and Sanitation Agency and Vision Find, a micro-finance company, he said.

“Assemblies do not prioritise sanitation and therefore we can talk and do all the advocacy, yet people still go back to the practice of ODF,” he stressed.

The director, therefore, called on Municipal and District Assemblies in the region to be proactive and invest in sanitation issues to reduce fifth and stop open defecation in communities.

Mr Asanyuure urged the Assemblies to support Environment Health and Sanitation staff with fuel and logistics to go to communities to engage people on OD, as well as enforce the sanitation bye-laws.

The Global Goals on sanitation, goal six, calls for the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all and to achieve this by the year 2030, there must be equitable sanitation and hygiene, to end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women, girls and the vulnerable, he said.

GNA