The government statistician Prof Samuel Kobina Annim has cast doubt on Ghana’s ability to meet the universal target of ending open defecation by 2030.
Data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) shows that about 1.5 million Ghanaian households do not have access to a toilet facility.
Annim wants stakeholders to step up effort and accelerate interventions in the water sanitation and hygiene sector to ensure Ghana achieves the target.
He was speaking at the release of the 2020 & 2021 Comparative Analysis Report on Water & Sanitation and Braille Report on the 2021 Population and Housing Census General Report Highlights in Accra.
“Definitely from the open defecation point of view, our chances of ending it by 2030 is minimal, unless we accelerate interventions in the sector and as I indicated, the sector ministry has developed different scenarios, and this is the time we need to accelerate,” he said.
“Because if by 11 years’ period you have reduced by just 1.6 percentage points, and we have seven years to 2030 then, clearly, we are not likely to achieve the target of ending open defecation by 2030,” Annim said.
“And what is important is that nationally we can achieve it but there are a lot of districts that are lagging behind and based on the mantra of leaving no one behind, we need to start targeting the district that have retrogressed and are below the national target,” he added.
The occasion was also used by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to release the maiden census reports in braille, audio and large prints to make it easy for people who have difficulty seeing to have access to the 2021 Population and Housing Census report.
The first census publication in braille was published in partnership with the Ghana Blind Union (GBU) as part of the commitment of the GSS to disseminate census data in diverse ways to meet the needs of all data users.
