By Samuel Akumatey, GNA
Kpenoe (V/R), Jan 17, GNA - Children have been asked to help to lift the anti-open defecation campaign and “push” their parents to construct household toilets.
Mrs Aba Degraft Johnson, Team Leader for the UNICEF/GoG Anti Open Defecation Campaign said children were natural leaders and could easily influence decisions of their parents, therefore capturing them under the "One Household, One Toilet", project would yield desired results.
"We need to sow seeds in the children. They are natural born leaders and heavy influencers", she said, and encouraged children to become ambassadors of the fight against open defecation and inspire their peers.
Mrs Degraft Johnson said this when she engaged people in Kpenoe, a farming community in the Ho Municipal area on Community Led Total Sanitation.
She said poverty made no excuse for the unavailability of household toilets, saying latrines virtually cost nothing to build in view of their importance, and must be factored into every newly built house.
Mrs Degraft Johnson said the five per cent household toilet coverage in the Ho Municipality was too low for the regional capital, and charged community members to support each home to build a facility.
Togbui Tsali IV, Chief of Abutia Kpota, and a representative of the Regional Office of Community Development, said sanitation cultures were dying because what once used to be addressed by members of the community had been left to sanitation agencies.
He said traditional and community leaders must therefore endeavour to revive community self- help initiatives towards total sanitation, and keep water bodies and other resources from pollution.
Activities under the campaign include; interactive sessions with students and community members, using documentary videos on proper sanitation and the construction of simple latrines.
Coloured concrete footprints were fixed in schools the team visited to guide pupils to hand washing facilities after visiting the toilet.
The campaign also called at health centres and other public places to assess sanitary facilities and practice.
GNA
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