Some 74% of households in Ghana do not have exclusive use of improved toilet – Statistical Service

Three out of four households in Ghana, representing 74 per cent, do not have exclusive use of an improved toilet, the Statistical Service has said.

In a statement to commemorate the World Toilet Day, it said: “The 2010 and 2021 Comparative Analysis Report on Sanitation indicates that the percentage of households that did not have exclusive use of an improved toilet facility has decreased from 86.3 percent in 2010.”

According to the Statistical Service, an improved toilet facility is one that hygienically separates human excreta from human contact and exclusive use refers to a toilet facility mainly used by household members only.

On the regional level, it said nine in every 10 households representing 89.4 per cent in the Savannah Region did not have exclusive use of an improved toilet facility in 2021; the highest recorded, followed by the Upper East Region with 87.9 per cent and 87.5 per cent for Northern Region.

“In all, more than 80.0 percent of households did not have exclusive use of an improved toilet facility in seven regions in 2021, a decrease from 13 regions in 2010,” the Service said.

It said one in every three households representing 32.5 per cent used improved and shared toilet facilities in 2021, an increase from 28.2 per cent in 2010.

Meanwhile, the use of improved shared toilet facilities was highest in the Upper East Region having 13.0 per cent, Northern Region with 11.6 per cent and the Savannah Region with 10.2 per cent, in 2021.

The use of unimproved household toilet facilities in Ghana worsened marginally from 1.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent between 2010 and 2021 with the Upper West Region recording the highest of 5.1 per cent use of unimproved toilet facilities, followed by the Volta Region with 4.1 per cent and North East Region with 3.5 per cent.

Also, the use of unimproved toilet facilities increased between 2010 and
2021 in all regions except the Greater Accra and Northern regions.

Upper West Region recorded the highest increase of 4.5 percentage points followed by Volta Region with 3.2 percentage points and North East Region scoring 2.7 percentage points.

“About a quarter representing 23.0 per cent of households were using public toilets compared to 34.6 percent in 2010. Usage of public toilets in 2021 was highest in the Ahafo Region with 34.5 per cent, Western Region with 29.9 per cent and Ashanti Region having 29.5 per cent,” the Statistical Service said.

On open defaecation, it said the percentage of households that had no toilet facilities and practicing open defaecation decreased slightly from 19.3 per cent to 17.7 per cent between 2010 and 2021.

It also said more than half of households were practicing open defaecation in five regions in 2021 led by the Savannah Region with 68.5 per cent and Upper East Region with 68.4 per cent where two in every three households practiced open defaecation.

“The practice of open defaecation increased between 2010 and 2021 in five regions with the largest increase of 2.7 percentage points recorded in the Bono East Region,” the Service said.

World Toilet Day is commemorated annually on 19th November to promote access to proper sanitation for all.

The theme for this year is” Accelerating Change”.

Source: GNA