The living conditions in urban areas with respect to sanitation continue facing numerous challenges as 449,849 urban households practice open defecation, as revealed in the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) Report on Water and Sanitation.
Findings from the report indicated that the population identified above do not have toilet facilities in their residences and hence resort to open defecation, while 1.3 million use public toilet facilities.
In the North East (54.0 percent) and Savannah (51.9 percent) Regions, over half the urban households practiced open defecation – which is more than five times the national urban average of 8.9 percent. Also, a total of six regions have over 20 percent of urban households practicing open defecation.
The statement, issued by the Ghana Statistical Service on results of the 2021 PHC General Report on Water and Sanitation, is in line with World Cities Day – celebrated annually on October 31. The Day was instituted to raise awareness of challenges facing urban areas.
As one cannot have good sanitation without the presence of a continuous flow of water, the data also focused on the sources of water for households and its accessibility – showing that one of every four households (27.7 percent) in urban areas, representing 1.4 million urban households, do not have access to water on their premises
Additionally, of the 1.4 million households, 89,922 have to travel more than 30 minutes in making a round trip to get to their main source of drinking water and return.
Nationally, 112,031 households in urban areas are using unimproved sources of drinking water – defined as sources not adequately protected from outside contamination. One in every four (24 percent) urban households use unimproved sources of drinking water in the North East Region.
This region also recorded the highest percentage in using unimproved sources of drinking water, followed by Northern and Savannah Regions with 10 and 9.3 percent respectively.
Focusing on other aspects of living conditions in urban areas, the 2021 PHC General Report on Housing Conditions indicated that over quarter-million (316,116) households in urban areas were living in uncompleted buildings (79,721) or unconventional structures (236,395).
Unconventional structures comprised wooden structures numbering 143,261; kiosks or poly kiosks, recording a figure of 78,016; and metal containers, 15,118.
In the Greater Accra Region, one of every 10 households in urban areas – representing 11.9 percent – were living in uncompleted buildings or unconventional structures; and the other fifteen regions recorded percentages below the national urban average (5.4 percent).
