World Vision Ghana through their WASH program has been able to educate about 131 communities in both Nkwanta South Municipality and Kadjebi District in the Volta Region to achieve open defecation free (ODF) status.
Five of these communities are Pampa, Fankyenekor,Kankye Akura,Bakamba and New Kankye.
370 households for both Nkwanta and Kadjebi who were sensitized now have functional and washing facilities installed in each home.
WASH Technical Coordinator for World Vision Ghana, Yaw Attah Arhin said they noticed that open defecation in the country is very high which also pose health risk to the people so they decided to put measures in place and help curb the menace.
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He told Adom News they carry out sensitazation for any community they visit for those in such area to understand the dangers of defecating in the open and the benefits they stop.
They also go to the communities with facilitators who will also walk the people through a demonstration on how running water carries particles of their faeces in the open into the streams for them to fetch and drink which endangers their health.
They, however, use the opportunity to encourage them to get toilet in their homes to avoid faeces getting into their streams and get them contaminated.
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Mr Arhin stated that all the 131 communities have household latrines through the education his outfit gave to them which has also stopped open defecation.
World Vision WASH Technical Coordinator added that before a community is declared ODF, about 80% of the people in the community must have a toilet facility and this has been certified by both District and Regional Inter-Agency Committee on Sanitation.
People in such communities told Adom News that the sensitization has indeed helped them as they no longer defecate in outside and their health conditions have improved as they no longer visit the hospitals on regular basis.