Over 20 million Ghanaians don’t have proper sanitation! – Report
More than 20 million of Ghana’s 23 million population does not have proper sanitation, the findings of a new report show.
The report says by 2010 only 2,023,000 (two million) people had access to improved sanitation in the country, leaving 20,977,000 people without proper sanitation.
In the whole of Africa, the report says over 572 million (equivalent to about four times Nigeria’s population) of the world’s 2.6 billion people are without access to proper sanitation.
The figure, a compilation of the number of people in 36 off-track African countries listed as not having access to proper sanitation by 2010, according to the report, that means over half of Africa’s estimated one billion population from 53 countries, do not have access to appropriate sanitation.
The report, “Saving Lives”, which was launched by WaterAid, an international aid organisation last week as the prelude to a high level meeting on sanitation on water in Washington D.C., puts the total figure of Africa’s population in need of proper sanitation, at 572,091,000.
Furthermore, the total estimated population of the 36 countries is 784,565,246, meaning only about 212,474,246 have access to adequate and proper sanitation.
Topping the list of countries with large populations without access to basic dignifying sanitation is Nigeria, with 109,312,000 of its 154,729,000 population without access and thus only 45,417,000 having access.
Following on the heels of Nigeria is Ethiopia, with 65,530,000 of her population of 85,237,338 without proper sanitation, then DR Congo, which has 50,134,000 out of its 63,655,000 population being without the required sanitation access as at 2010.
Ghana’s situation is also very intriguing, as out of a total population of 23 million, the report indicates that 20,977,000 people were without proper sanitation by 2010, which means only 2,023,000 (two million) people have access to improved sanitation in the country.
Although the report does not state why the other African countries are not included, it has been gathered that a country like Liberia is missing because records are not available.
By Edmund Smith-Asante
The entire list of off-track African countries in WaterAid’s report is as follows:
It is a shame for a country like Guinea, once known as the Water Castel of West Africa, in which you find water everywhere, with a raining season of over 9 months, that its population cannot access to a proper WASH.
It a shame for a country like Ghana, cannot provide proper sanitation to it citizens and few are leaving in mansions proper ashphalt street and sewage leading to these homes.
For 50years of poor leadership.