Dear <<Name>>
GHANA PRIORITIES IN THE NEWS
Clean and healthy communities require proper sanitation, but one in every three people in the world still lacks access to a dignified sanitation service. Ghana has also struggled to improve sanitation coverage, and the situation remains challenging, especially in rural communities where private latrines are scarce. The most significant consequence of poor sanitation is the high burden of diarrhea and cholera. In 2017, Ghanaians suffered an estimated 41 million cases of diarrhea and nearly 800 cases of cholera. Over 7,000 deaths were caused by diarrheal disease in the country, and more than 3,500 of them were children.
An article published in Daily Graphic reports on a new research paper that highlights actions to improve rural sanitation.
The research paper is released by Ghana Priorities, a collaboration between the National Development Planning Commission and Copenhagen Consensus.
To improve sanitation in rural communities, a group of researchers studied the impact of the main community sanitation intervention used in rural Ghana, the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) model.
The CLTS initiative is a three-step process. First, communities are selected, information is collected to plan the intervention, and the implementers are trained. Second, the program aims to make community members aware of their current unsanitary conditions and practices and motivate them to engage with the program and construct latrines. In the final step, the implementers conduct follow-up visits to assess the success of the program.
The CLTS intervention passes a cost-benefit test both with and without a subsidy, showing that improved sanitation has an important effect on reducing disease and mortality. The initiative may also bring other non-health benefits, including a reduced risk of assault, increased dignity, and better privacy, all of which are especially relevant for women in particular. Cleaner, healthier communities are also more productive, and the access to proper sanitation is key to unlocking their potential.
You can read the full newspaper article here.
I will keep you informed with additional updates from this project.
Kind regards
Ralph Nordjo, Ph.D.
About the Project:
Ghana Priorities, a partnership between the National Development Planning Commission and Copenhagen Consensus Center, is working with stakeholders across the country to identify, analyse, and prioritise the smartest solutions to Ghana's challenges. It has commissioned some of the best economists in Ghana and the world to calculate the social, environmental and economic costs and benefits of policy proposals. Research papers in the project deal with everything from health challenges to boosting agricultural performance, from education to strengthening the industrial sector.
|
