Ghana is likely to miss the 2030 deadline for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal six if government and stakeholders in the WASH sector do not improve upon current sector performance.
The country’s Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Hon. Issahaku Chinnia Amidu said the SDG dashboard put the country on moderate performance score which if not improved may not be sufficient for Ghana to achieve SDG six by 2030.
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The Deputy Minister made the disclosure when he addressed stakeholders and participants at the opening of the 33rd edition of the largest Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) forum in Ghana- Mole Conference at Elmina in the Central region yesterday.
“Ghana’s performance towards the SDG 6 according to the global SDG dashboard indicates moderate improvement, which if this same momentum is maintained, it may not be sufficient to reach our set goals by 2030″, observed the minister.
Issahaku Chinnia Amidu said a careful look at country-specific data of Ghana’s 2020 Population and Housing Census presents an interesting case for the country’s WASH sector.
According to the Deputy Minister, access to household toilets reduced from 48% in 2000 to 46% in 2010.
He was happy to announce that the situation has suddenly taken an upward trend increasing from 46 percent to 59% in 2021.
The Minister attributed the upward improvement to collaborative interventions by stakeholders in the nation’s water, sanitation and hygiene sector.
He noted that the 13-percentage point increase translates to an additional one million households now having access to household toilets.
The Deputy Minister on behalf of the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources commended stakeholders in the WASH sector for the feat.
Issahaku Chinnia Amidu stressed on the need for WASH stakeholders to focus attention on comprehensive district-wide sanitation services delivery in order to meet national targets and the 2030 deadline.
The Mole Conference is Ghana’s largest water and sanitation development platforms and one of Africa’s longest running CSO-led, multi-stakeholder conference on water and sanitation.
The conference is held annually by the Ghana Coalition of NGOs into Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.
The 33rd edition of the Mole Conference is currently underway at the Elmina Beach Resort in the Central region on the theme: Ghana’s commitment to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); Connecting Systems to Bridge Service Delivery Gaps.
