Over 5000 communities mostly in the Northern part of the country have been declared Open Defecation Free.

This was disclosed by the Ministry of Water and Sanitation which together with developing partners, embarked on a targeted campaign to stop the practice.

The Ministry has been explaining a plan with which it hopes to achieve Ghana’s target of an open defecation free status, nationwide by 2030.

According to UNICEF’s latest reports, one out of every five Ghanaians defecate openly; a problem reported in 2016 would take 500 years to fix.

It seems change is fast occurring; at least in the regions up north.

However, recognizing that Ghana is largely off-track in meeting its sanitation goals with only 21% of the population using improved sanitation facilities, Deputy Water and Sanitation Minister, Yaw Boamah explains plans to reach the nationwide goal.

These efforts have been largely compensated with support from development partners, for accelerated progress.

Development partner, UNICEF is happy about the progress so far.

Nadowli Kaleo is one of the success stories and the District Chief Executive for the area, Catherine Teyiri Lankono spoke about plans to sustain the status.

The other areas which have attained Open Defecation Free status include Nadowli, Tatale, and Dambai.

 As they celebrate these successes, the country and development partners are still mindful that an estimated 22% of the population still openly defecate.