Put a little extra effort into providing thorough district-wide sanitation services. Minister of Sanitation to stakeholders

The sanitation minister Freda Prempeh has tasked WASH stakeholders to focus a bit more on delivering comprehensive district-wide sanitation services to meet the set targets.

According to the Minister, meeting these set targets will require coordinated, cost-effective, and inclusive efforts by all.

The recently launched Ghana WASH Sector Development Programme estimates a total funding requirement of US $1.9 billion to ensure WASH for all by 2030.

“I wish to inform you that the process for the revision of the 2007 National Water Policy has been completed whilst the revision of Environmental Sanitation Policy has started in earnest”.

She further announced launching the Hand Hygiene for All Strategy last week in Cape Coast as part of the activities to commemorate the 2023 Global Handwashing Day.

The Minister added that plans are in place for the Ministry to kick-start the Water Safety campaigns nationwide.
“Ghana has made remarkable progress in the delivery of safe drinking water and we are on track to achieving the SDG targets”. She said

According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census, 87.7% of Ghanaians have access to basic safe drinking water. However, approximately 3.8 million people still lack access to safe drinking water.

However, the sanitation minister, despite this enviable achievement, we needs to take water quality issues seriously to be able to derive maximum benefits from the use of water. For example, 5 in 10-point sources and 8 out of 10 households, according to the 2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey are contaminated with E-coli. This calls for vigorous public education and sensitization on how to keep water safe from the point of fetch to the point of use.

“The greatest enemy for the safe water delivery in Ghana is the galamsey menace”. She stressed
The Minister addressed participants and stakeholders at the ongoing 2023 Mole XXXIV Conference.

The theme for the 2023 WASH Conference is Building Inclusive and Resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) System to Reach the Unserved”

However, as part of efforts to support the media in the WASH sector, World Vision Ghana and GAMA Sanitation and Water Project supported some selected journalists from the Media Coalition against Open Defecation (M-CODe) to participate in the 2023 Mole XXXIV conference in Jirapa in the Upper West region.

Source: https://Apexnewsgh.com