Every year in November, the World celebrates ‘Toilet Day’. From previous readings, the day is set aside to draw attention to the importance of toilets in supporting better nutrition and health improvement. From the UN website, you will get the understanding that it helps raise awareness about those who don’t have access to a toilet, though it’s supposed to be a basic human right to have clean water and sanitation.
Dedicating a day to talk about easy access to a toilet is no brainer really;
– Globally 2.4 billion people do not have adequate sanitation
-1 billion people still defecate in the open
In the Upper East region here in Ghana, 89% of the population practice open defecation, and only 3% use unshared improved sanitation facilities.
Averagely 22.9% of Ghanaians do not have access to any sanitation facility (open defecation) and only 15% of us use improved unshared sanitation facilities.
The menace of poor sanitation in Ghana is everywhere to see; diseases and malnutrition.
It’s on record that due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, millions of people mostly children, die from diseases associated with poor sanitation and hygiene.
This is why we at DreamHouse Improvement Services will support any day set aside to support easy access to toilet provision.
But in Ghana, we will argue that every day should be dedicated to moving ourselves from disgraceful acts such as open defecation.
We believe that sanitation is a global development priority and over 2.4 billion people not having improved sanitation and 1 billion people still practicing open defecation should not be accepted.
More dire is the situation in our schools where a recent report stated that 36% Of public basic schools are without toilets.
Even though the world now understands how providing technological access such as computers, the internet, and mobile phones can enhance productivity and create opportunities for people, we have conveniently forgotten that providing basic technologies such as toilets (through the use of biodigesters) will enormously increase productivity and help our low-income earners to become economically viable citizens.
Since 2000, the world has been working towards improving access to safe toilets and ending open defecation through the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Here is our bold suggestion; biodigesters are the way to go.
Download the ebook on how to construct a simple onsite biodegradable biodigester.
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