Living without a toilet endangers the health and livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable people – and the risk of living without proper sanitation increases as climate change bites. But in Ghana, 82% of the population – that’s more than 23 million people – do not have access to a decent toilet.
WaterAid’s briefing, “Living in a fragile world: The impact of climate change on the sanitation crisis” highlights how safe sanitation can help communities become more resilient to both outbreaks of preventable disease – such as cholera – and the impact of climate change.
Only 45% of the world’s population can rely on safely managed sanitation – that is a toilet serviced to allow human waste to be treated and disposed of safely. A staggering two billion people do not have access to even a basic private toilet, and more than 600 million people have no choice but to practise open defecation. – More than 5 million people defecate openly in Ghana.
Where decent toilets are lacking, human faeces can contaminate the groundwater or end up in rivers and lakes, polluting what is often the only source of water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. Children play on ground rife with pathogens and as a result of faecal contamination, whole communities can contract diarrhoeal diseases.
Further, inadequate sanitation in healthcare centres increases the risk of them becoming the epicentres of epidemics. One (1) in ten (10) healthcare facilities (HCF) have no sanitation at all and 1.8 billion people have no basic water services at their local facilities WaterAid’s 2015 assessment of WASH in HCFs in Bongo and Kassena Nankana West Districts (Upper East) revealed the poor state of sanitation in these facilities. In Bongo only 4 out of 43 HCFs assessed has sanitation access. In Kassena Nankana West 6 out of 34 health centres assessed had sanitation facilities.
A lack of clean water, decent toilets and hygiene claim the lives of around 800 children under 5 every day and in total around 829,000 lives every year.
These deaths fail to reach the headlines, in part because they predominately occur in poorer communities.
Now climate change is aggravating the sanitation crisis. Extreme weather – floods, powerful cyclones, rising temperatures, prolonged droughts – are causing irreparable damage to weak sanitation systems and causing illnesses to spread further in vulnerable communities. An estimated 250,000 additional deaths per year are predicted between 2030 and 2050 due to climate change and many of these deaths will be linked to poor sanitation.
WaterAid Ghana (WAG) is calling for urgent action from government and the international community to increase investment in sanitation services. WAG again is calling for urgent action from the government for the establishment of the National Sanitation Authority and Fund to help address the sanitation challenge confronting the country. Safe, reliable, and inclusive sanitation services help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. We are encouraging governments to include ambitious sanitation plans in their climate change adaptation strategies, so communities are better prepared to withstand the impacts of climate change.
Acting Country Director of WaterAid Ghana, Antoinette Shor Anyawoe, said:
“Ghanaians will soon vote to select a government to lead our development journey. Aspirants should recognise the role of water, sanitation and hygiene access in fighting poverty and ensure that future budgets adequately cater for improving access to these services.”
“These are basic human rights and having them in place helps to stop infectious diseases in its tracks and decent sanitation systems are even more vital as the impact of climate changes bites on vulnerable communities.”
“WaterAid’s report shows that climate change has intensified the sanitation crisis, with increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, destroying toilets and sanitation systems, putting the health and lives of millions of people around the world at risk. It is shocking that more than 23 million people in Ghana, don’t have access to a decent toilet. Our leaders must respond now to the urgent threat of climate change, and recognise the vital role climate-resilient sanitation plays in helping vulnerable communities be more prepared for climate change, because despite contributing the least to it, it’s the world’s poorest people currently suffering the brunt of its destructive impact.”
