An estimated 842,000 people die each year from sanitation-related diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera. In Ghana and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a significant contributor to this problem is the practice of open defecation.
A team led by Dr. Enoch Akwasi Kosoe and their colleagues at the University of Development Studies in Ghana conducted a comprehensive quantitative examination of the factors associated with open defecation in the Wa Municipality. The study, published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, employed a mixed-method approach involving questionnaires, observation, and interviews. The data were then analyzed using a mixed logit model. The team found that 49.8% of households had no form of toilet facility, and so either used communal/public toilets or practiced open defecation. The researchers identified six predictors of open defecation, namely ownership of a toilet facility, education, household size, occupation, income, and traditional norms and beliefs.
While 84% of the respondents without a home toilet had a good understanding of the health risks associated with open defecation, constructing a facility was often not a priority, with 94% of the participants mentioning financial factors. The authors concluded that in addition to boosting public education, the authorities should consider promoting credit financing to help fund the construction of home toilets.
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This blog post is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). Illustration by David Jury.