More Ghanaian households use improved sources of drinking water – Survey

A Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in 2011, indicated that nearly 80 percent of households in Ghana used improved sources of drinking water.

This means that Ghana has already achieved the 2015 Millennium Development Goal 7 target.

The survey, however, indicated wide variations existing between areas of residence with 91 percent coverage in urban areas and 69 percent in rural areas.

It further established that 91 percent of households were not using any water treatment method due to the fact that they used improved sources of drinking water where as 17 percent of households used unimproved sources of water, also indicating that they used appropriate water treatment methods before drinking.

In another development, the report showed that only 15 percent of households used improved and not shared sanitation facility, and that nearly 23 percent of households in Ghana practiced open defecation or have no toilet facility.

That phenomenon, the report noted, was more pronounced in the rural areas with 35 percent rate as against the urban areas which had 10 percent rate.

On hand washing, the MICS indicated that 24 percent of households had an observed place for hand washing adding that of those households where a place for hand washing was observed, 50 percent had both water and soap present at the designated place.

However, 14 percent of the households only had water available at the designated place while 12 percent of households only had soap with no water.

The report concluded that 24 percent of the households had neither water nor soap available at the designated place for hand washing.

Source: GNA