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Ghana has improved in the provision of toilets according to the latest afrobarometer scorecards, Mr Kweku Quansah, Deputy Director, Environmental and Sanitation Service Directorate of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources has said.

He said the latest data available on the afrobarometer scorecard that tracks the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demonstrated an improved 33 percent access to toilet in the country.

“The latest data showed a 12 percent increase from 2017 to May 2021 on open defaecation, a testament that some gains are being made in that sector.”

The Deputy Director made these statements at the second Graphic-Zoomlion Sanitation Awareness Campaign dubbed “Keep Ghana Clean” in Ho.

He said the Sector was mandated to set policy direction on environmental sanitation, which led to ceding 80 per cent of participation by the private sector.

He said the negative impact of sanitation on the economy, medicals and the environment cost the country some $290 Million annually for negligence on the sector amounting to 1.6 per cent of the gross domestic product computation.

Mr Quansah said there was a need to change attitudes, subscribe to Zoomlion waste bins and build infrastructure to contain the 17,000 tons of solid waste generated daily in the country, half of which were treated.

Professor John Owusu Gyapong, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) observed that the serene and clean environment that heralded the entry into Ho some years ago had begun to deteriorate and appealed to stakeholders to step up environmental issues in the Municipality.

He said there was close inter-relationship between sanitation and health and data showed that every $1 investment into the sector yielded six positive economic and health outcomes, drawing an inseparable link between water and sanitation.

He said UHAS and the Ho Technical University could collaborate to design local lasting solutions as part of a GHC 5 million grant available for tertiary institutions to find acceptable strategies for maintaining clean environmental sanitation.