Sanitation problem in India and Ghana

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Date: 16/04/2012
Sanitation problem in India and Ghana
The Sanitation problem in India and Ghana is not only an urbanization concern but also an environmental concern. In India, for example, the majority of the population hardly possesses toilets or latrines. The same applies in Ghana. The problem in both India and Ghana is widespread in urban areas causing a serious health crisis. The majority of urban dwellers in India and Ghana defecate openly. Defecating in the open normally defiles the ecology, causes stinking of inhabited areas and gives water a foul smell. As a result, open defecation predisposes people to various waterborne diseases like cholera and dysentery. Research indicates that many children in India and Ghana succumb to waterborne diseases like dysentery annually.
For the case of Ghana, it contains a serious waste management crisis extending from the state to various local municipalities. In addition, wastes of all sizes and shapes are a common feature in most urban centers. These difficulties are complicated and concentrated by population pressures in heavily populated towns like Accra and Kumasi. For example, three quarters of the population in Accra live in low income and heavily populated areas. The sanitary infrastructure in Accra highly reflects the status quo of the people. It is only a small percentage of people that contain toilets that flush. The majority of the population use latrines constructed to accommodate these distinctions. However, these latrines are normally overused as they are shared by very many people (Babat 36).
In both India and Ghana, various strategies have been developed in an attempt to solve the sanitation problems in these countries. Some strategies were similar between the two countries while others were different.
In India, the following strategies are used.
Information, Education and Communication Strategy
This strategy was developed out of a combination of various methods of transferring information and education concerning public health. This strategy was not only used for sanitary services but also for disease outbreak preventions. The materials utilized within this strategy included video screening and recording, audio visual aids, photograph display associated with recommended practices concerning home and personal hygiene. Others included street plays with the developed script from local communicable language. Various organizations including the government and World Health Organization provided funds to ensure implementation of the strategy. This strategy was to create awareness to people on proper disposal methods of human waste and other refuse. The strategy was to motivate the general public to adopt household latrines and establish hygienic practices (Government of Karnataka, 118).
In most cases, it is the responsibility of the urban local authorities to provide sanitation services. On the contrary, there exists a shift in service provision under various collaborations, models and partnerships with various stakeholders. The Integrated Sanitation Program (ISP) is almost being put into practice by the local authority in association with various Non Governmental Organizations in the country. The strategy has facilitated successful efforts of collaboration with the public and private contribution in effect under the strategy. Consequently, the government, Women Self Groups and Non Governmental Organizations are combined together in the building and maintenance of various complexes of sanitation. The Women Self-help Groups take care of these sanitation complexes after being constructed. They also maintain and operate shops within these complexes while being supported by various NGOs in capacity building activities and upgrading skills. In addition, some of the SHGs even carried out sanitary marts production (Vasudeva, 101).
In Ghana, the control strategies were different. They used two strategies, mainly controlled dumping and compositing.
Controlled dumping
This means the utilization of landfills as the ultimate deposit for refuse. It is the most adopted method by the Accra Metropolitan Authority. This is because it is not only affordable but also calls for little maintenance. The city is given an opportunity to appoint a given landfill site. On the contrary, these sites are well noted as open dumps. Normally, engineered landfills are built to ensure specific environmental standards such as decreased permeability natural flow and clay liner. This is normally based on gravity leachate management. The problem was that there were only two engineered landfills. One was in Kumasi and another one in Tamale. These two landfills were made up mostly of abandoned sites of quarries, gouged natural openings on the earth, ancient areas of mining, and artificial ground openings. The majority of these sites were located within the outskirts of Accra characterized by poor roads which provided a substantial risk on the transport of waste.
The major problem with non-engineered landfills was that there was inadequate capacity to protect the adjacent environment from harmful leachants and chemicals which were being invariably being released in the dumped waste. The leachants arising from the non-engineered dumps was capable of flowing into drainage systems and canals in the form of runoff. On the contrary, this was a great da...