By Philip Tengzu
Gurungu, (UW/R), Oct. 26, GNA – The Center for Advancing Rural Opportunities (CARO) Ghana, a Non-governmental organisation (NGO), has handed over a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facility to the Gurungu Health Centre in the Wa West District for effective sanitation management.
The intervention, a two-seater KVIP toilet and a hand washing facility, formed part of efforts of the NGO to ensure access to clean WASH services at the community level to contribute to ending open defecation and encouraging good hygiene practices among the people.
Mr Freeman Kanton, the Executive Director of CARO Ghana, handing over the facility during a brief ceremony at Gurungu, said the need for the toilet facility was identified during a post-COVID-19 project implementation at the community.
“It is more critical because our mothers and or caregivers need a place of convenience when they visit the health facility, especially a decent place to change their baby’s diapers and a place to change sanitary pads for adolescent girls.
This is also geared towards contributing to the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of attaining access to basic WASH services”, he explained.
While tasking the Community Health Committee to be responsible for maintaining the toilet facility, Mr Kanton urged the community members to support the staff of the health centre to take good care of the facility and to protect it from wildfire and destruction.
He said CARO Ghana also donated handwashing facilities to Kuoli basic school in the Lawra Municipality to commemorate this year’s Global Handwashing Day.
“It is our pleasure as an NGO to have the capacity to support communities to have access to sustainable WASH services”, Mr Kanton observed.
Mr Abass Shaban, the Assistant Director in charge of Disease Control at the Wa West District Health Directorate who represented the District Health Director, thanked CARO Ghana for the gesture and said the name of the organisation had been “cemented” in the Gurungu community and the health service in the district in general.
He acknowledged some other support of the organisation to the district health directorate, which included logistical support, sensitisation during the COVID-19 pandemic and funding of the District Annual Health Sector Performance Review among others.
He, however, called for more partnership and support to help meet the health needs of the people in the district.
Naa Abubakari Mohammed, the Chief of the Gurungu community, thanked CARO Ghana for the facility and prayed for God’s protection for the staff of the organisation and its partners so they could render more support to the community.
“This is the first time the community has witnessed a project of this kind funded by a development partner like CARO Ghana. We will forever be grateful for this honour done us”, he explained.
Mr Abubakari Mumuni, the In-Charge of Gurungu Health Center, said the sanitation facility would relief the staff and patients, especially women and adolescent girls who visited the facility and appealed for more support to help them discharge their duties effectively.
GNA