Ghana ranked 48th in Africa for poor sanitation

A Snapshot of Sanitation in Africa has ranked Ghana the 48th country in Africa with the worst progress in sanitation.

The report, which assessed 51 African countries, also ranked Ghana the 14th out of 15 countries in West Africa with poor sanitation record. (…)

The country would therefore achieve about 15 per cent reduction by 2015, instead of 53 per cent, should the trend continue. Only 10 per cent has been achieved as at 2006.

Mrs Loretta Roberts, Vice Chairman of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation, told newsmen at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday that the situation was a national crisis, which called for the declaration for a national emergency. (…)

Read all ModernGhana.com

Nigeria: Nigeria: ‘Improved Sanitation Will Lead to Development’

This Day (Lagos), posted to the web 6 August 2008, Yinka Kolawole, Osogbo

In line with the International Year of Sanitation in the country, the Osun State Government has mapped out strategies to combat factors militating against improved environment sanitation in the state. Speaking with THISDAY exclusively, the State Commissioner of Environment Alhaji Ademola Adio Kazeem noted that to make the strategies work, awareness and proper education would be mounted to assist in eradicating the environmental problem. (…)

Read all AllAfrica.com, original source ThisDay(Lagos)

Ghana: Minister deplores sanitation situation in Ghana

The sanitation situation in the country is deteriorating by the day and this might lead to increase in sanitation related diseases among children and the most vulnerable. It is estimated that an appreciable number of children die annually before the age of five mainly from preventable sanitation-related diseases, said Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment. Speaking at the launch of National Attitudinal Change Initiative Project by Media in Partnership for Development, an NGO, he called on all stakeholders to help maintain the environment so that the country could make progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goal on acquiring good sanitation. (…)

Read all JoyOnline

Ghana: Zoomlion Contracted to Improve Sanitation At Markets And Garages

Ama Achiaa Amankwah, Accra

A project designed to improve the physical environment at garages and markets throughout the country has been launched at Mankesim in Central Region. Known as the Domestic Trade and Industrial Services Improvement Project (DOTIP), it is expected to provide among others refuse containers, toilet facilities, construction of drainages and roads and lighting system to contribute to the development of an efficiently functioning domestic market for the distribution of products for local consumption and promotion of consumer welfare. (…)

Read all AllAfricaCom and Public Agenda

Uganda: Latrine Crackdown in Pallisa District

HEALTH officials in Pallisa district have launched a crackdown on family heads whose homes have no pit-latrines and rubbish disposal pits.

The move, said Wilson Namungha, the district health inspector, was prompted by the recent cholera outbreak in the area that killed nine residents in five sub-counties.

The home-to-home operation, led by Namungha assisted by the sub-county and community health officials, had so far covered six sub-counties.

Namungha said the goats confiscated from the errant homes would be sold for money to hire people to construct latrines for them.

More - New Vision

South Africa - Pay-per-bag may be Cape’s new mantra

CAPE ELIZABETH (July 31, 2008): Cape Elizabeth town councilors are considering regulations that would decrease town waste disposal bills by cutting down the amount of waste Cape residents throw out.

The proposed regulations would create a so-called “pay-per-bag” system for residents, require businesses to handle their own waste and not use the Cape Elizabeth transfer station, require commercial haulers to use facilities other than the Cape transfer station and require town departments to improve their recycling efforts.

More - keepMEcurrent

Ghana - Keeping our gutters tidy

A healthy mind, it is said, is in a healthy body. And a body can be healthy if it lives in a healthy environment.

Apparently, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheikh I C Quaye, is alive to this simple and age-long adage, and this has culminated into his cautioning the residents of Alajo, a suburb of Accra, to desist from defecating in gutters meant for the free flow of water.

According to media reports, it was to halt this unhygienic practice that the Minister’s office was constructing a 20-seater first-class place of convenience (water closet) at a cost of GH¢495,000 for the community.

Good show! The concern expressed by the Regional Minister is genuine. Defecating into gutters in some parts of the capital city has become a sub-culture - which is grossly repugnant and awfully abominable.

It is happening almost everywhere within the Metropolis and for that matter, The Statesman finds it an arduous task to cite particular suburbs as places where unscrupulous elements in the society use as their toilets.

More - The Statesman

Nigeria: Govt To Build 1,000 Toilets

Worried by the sanitary condition and manner its citizens openly deficate on the ground, Plateau State government yesterday announced that it has concluded arrangements to construct over one thousand public toilets across the state before the end of this year.

The Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, Mallam Idi Waziri, made this disclosure at the state’s first lady, Mrs. Talatu Jang’s launching of the 2008 international year of sanitation held in Tabulung village in Kanke LGA.He noted that a healthy society and good sanitation will promote the economic growth of the state, hence the government decision to construct over 1,000 toilets across the state. (…)

Read all LeadershipNigeria

Botswana wins water race, loses on sanitation

The National Water Resources Management Conference was yesterday told that there should be concerted efforts to manage water resources through prevention of pollution and siltation of the resource.

Speaking at the 4th annual water conference, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego ‘PHK’ Kedikilwe, revealed that the problem of pollution is made worse by the growth in population and lack of harmonisation of policies between water management and pollution.

“While we discussed the need to optimise water supplies by harnessing wastewater and treating it to drinking water quality standards for portable use, we somehow fell short of water and sanitation as a single entity that requires integration for the betterment of its management,” Kedikilwe said at the official opening of the conference at GICC.

More - Mmegi Online

Kenya - Cholera outbreaks blamed on contaminated water

NAIROBI, 29 July 2008 (IRIN) - Recurrent outbreaks of cholera in the western province of Nyanza are caused by widespread water contamination, including seepage from latrines, health officials said.

“The major contributor to the recent outbreaks in the area was unsafe water,” Shahnaaz Sharif, the senior deputy director of medical services in Kenya’s health ministry, said. “In Kisumu, many wells are built near the latrine; eventually the sewage seeps into the wells.”

The high water table in the area was a contributing factor, Sharif said. Tests done on water samples from Kisumu and Nyando, two of the most affected districts in the province, indicated that 75 percent of sources were contaminated.

More - IRIN