Nearly one billion people worldwide still practice open defecation. In 2020 about 59.3% of households in Ghana had household toilets while 23% used public toilets (PTs) and 15% did not have toilets. Nearly all homes (98% of the 15%) without access to toilet facility defecate outside in bushes, fields, or gutters. About 100,336 residents of Wa town do not have household toilets. The inadequacy of both public and household toilets has resulted in the creation of several open defecation sites across the length and width of Wa. This research assessed the spatial distribution and use of PTs, and how these influence the spread of open defecation sites in the Wa township. Using a purposive sampling technique, all forty-four public toilets within the study area were included in the study. Questionnaire survey (structured) was used to collect data from respondents. Geographic coordinates of the public toilets were collected using a handheld Global Position System (GPS). The study showed that there were about 184 open defecation sites and forty-four public toilets. All the forty-four public toilets were used by an average of 8,022 persons per day. About 191 clients use each facility per day. The people without toilets in their houses had to travel about 0.1 km to 4 km to access the nearest PT if they wanted to use toilet facilities. The study therefore recommends that the Wa Municipal Assembly or the Local Authority should enact and enforce the appropriate laws that would prosecute people who practice open defecation. Finally, the Assembly should immediately construct temporary public toilets in communities with high open defecation sites.
| Published in | Research & Development (Volume 5, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/rd.20240501.13 |
| Page(s) | 10-22 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Household, Open Defecation, Public Toilet, Sanitation, Township
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APA Style
Ayereka, I. K., Jaman, P. B., Ayariga, S. A. (2024). Spatial Analysis of Open Defecation Sites and the Utilization of Public Toilets. Research & Development, 5(1), 10-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/rd.20240501.13
ACS Style
Ayereka, I. K.; Jaman, P. B.; Ayariga, S. A. Spatial Analysis of Open Defecation Sites and the Utilization of Public Toilets. Res. Dev. 2024, 5(1), 10-22. doi: 10.11648/rd.20240501.13
AMA Style
Ayereka IK, Jaman PB, Ayariga SA. Spatial Analysis of Open Defecation Sites and the Utilization of Public Toilets. Res Dev. 2024;5(1):10-22. doi: 10.11648/rd.20240501.13
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Download@article{10.11648/rd.20240501.13,
author = {Isaac Kwabena Ayereka and Patience Binambiba Jaman and Samson Austin Ayariga},
title = {Spatial Analysis of Open Defecation Sites and the Utilization of Public Toilets},
journal = {Research & Development},
volume = {5},
number = {1},
pages = {10-22},
doi = {10.11648/rd.20240501.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/rd.20240501.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.rd.20240501.13},
abstract = {Nearly one billion people worldwide still practice open defecation. In 2020 about 59.3% of households in Ghana had household toilets while 23% used public toilets (PTs) and 15% did not have toilets. Nearly all homes (98% of the 15%) without access to toilet facility defecate outside in bushes, fields, or gutters. About 100,336 residents of Wa town do not have household toilets. The inadequacy of both public and household toilets has resulted in the creation of several open defecation sites across the length and width of Wa. This research assessed the spatial distribution and use of PTs, and how these influence the spread of open defecation sites in the Wa township. Using a purposive sampling technique, all forty-four public toilets within the study area were included in the study. Questionnaire survey (structured) was used to collect data from respondents. Geographic coordinates of the public toilets were collected using a handheld Global Position System (GPS). The study showed that there were about 184 open defecation sites and forty-four public toilets. All the forty-four public toilets were used by an average of 8,022 persons per day. About 191 clients use each facility per day. The people without toilets in their houses had to travel about 0.1 km to 4 km to access the nearest PT if they wanted to use toilet facilities. The study therefore recommends that the Wa Municipal Assembly or the Local Authority should enact and enforce the appropriate laws that would prosecute people who practice open defecation. Finally, the Assembly should immediately construct temporary public toilets in communities with high open defecation sites.
},
year = {2024}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Spatial Analysis of Open Defecation Sites and the Utilization of Public Toilets AU - Isaac Kwabena Ayereka AU - Patience Binambiba Jaman AU - Samson Austin Ayariga Y1 - 2024/02/01 PY - 2024 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/rd.20240501.13 DO - 10.11648/rd.20240501.13 T2 - Research & Development JF - Research & Development JO - Research & Development SP - 10 EP - 22 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2994-7057 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/rd.20240501.13 AB - Nearly one billion people worldwide still practice open defecation. In 2020 about 59.3% of households in Ghana had household toilets while 23% used public toilets (PTs) and 15% did not have toilets. Nearly all homes (98% of the 15%) without access to toilet facility defecate outside in bushes, fields, or gutters. About 100,336 residents of Wa town do not have household toilets. The inadequacy of both public and household toilets has resulted in the creation of several open defecation sites across the length and width of Wa. This research assessed the spatial distribution and use of PTs, and how these influence the spread of open defecation sites in the Wa township. Using a purposive sampling technique, all forty-four public toilets within the study area were included in the study. Questionnaire survey (structured) was used to collect data from respondents. Geographic coordinates of the public toilets were collected using a handheld Global Position System (GPS). The study showed that there were about 184 open defecation sites and forty-four public toilets. All the forty-four public toilets were used by an average of 8,022 persons per day. About 191 clients use each facility per day. The people without toilets in their houses had to travel about 0.1 km to 4 km to access the nearest PT if they wanted to use toilet facilities. The study therefore recommends that the Wa Municipal Assembly or the Local Authority should enact and enforce the appropriate laws that would prosecute people who practice open defecation. Finally, the Assembly should immediately construct temporary public toilets in communities with high open defecation sites. VL - 5 IS - 1 ER -
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana
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