Sanitation: A drawback to achieving the Millennium Development Goals? The situation in Ghana

Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, socio-economic development tends to generate all kinds of sanitation problems which in turn lead to unhygienic and poor health conditions. This means that improvement in sanitation has direct effects on human health and productivity. However in Ghana, basic sanitation coverage in 2010 was about 14 per cent, although the country is expected to achieve 54 per cent coverage in basic sanitation by 2015 (Target 10 of MDG 7). This paper examines the implications of low sanitation coverage in Ghana using secondary data from GDHS, 2008, GLSS, 2008, 2006 Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey (MICS) and other relevant sources. The paper adapted the transmission pathways of faecal-oral disease as its conceptual framework. The results indicate that poor sanitation is prevalent in most communities in Ghana due to low coverage of improved sanitation facilities. Access to improved sanitation at the household level is based on affordability (neo-liberalism) which the poor cannot afford. Consequently, sanitation-related morbidity and mortality are common among the poor who must pay a higher fee for ill-health. With poor health status, productivity is lowered and the vicious cycle of poverty is entrenched. The provision of improved sanitation facilities that separate faeces from human contact and good hygiene practices are the two most effective ways to reduce ill-health due to poor sanitation. This paper has policy implications on the quality of the population and human capital development which is one of the four thematic areas of government’s development agenda.