Household Toilet Construction: Improving Sanitation in Rural Ghana

A year ago, Esther Nkansa and her family were challenged with the prospect of defecating openly in the community. The communal toilet they were using was extremely dirty and unusable. However, their concerns and difficulties were significantly reduced after Esther’s enrollment in GHEI’s Mother Mentor for Child Development Program. We constructed a toilet for Esther, thereby reducing financial stress and protecting her and the family from diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera.

Toilets Improve the Health of Communities

Our support to Martha ensured she delivered her child confidently and safely. Read her story

“I was scared to deliver my child at a health facility during COVID-19. I was afraid of getting infected. However, GHEI supported me by providing essential items such as antiseptics, soap and bleach that are needed to deliver at health facilities. They also gave necessary guidance that helped me prepare to bring my child safely into this world.”

Martha Donkor from Ampenkrom community in rural Ghana choose to deliver her baby conveniently and confidently at the health facility.

When a mother chooses to deliver her…

In Ghana, girls and young women are faced with cultural, social, political and economic challenges that make their pathway out of poverty and into empowerment even more challenging and difficult. At GHEI, we work to improve educational opportunities for girls by helping them pursue their goals, while demonstrating to their parents and community that girls are not only worth the investment, but that they have a right to it.

To lower the education gap between boys and girls, 60% of students enrolled in GHEI’s Youth Education Program are female.

Owning and having access to her own toilet was a distant dream for Rita Ama Yeboah. “All my life I have been compelled to use a toilet which was also used by other people in my neighborhood,” she said. Due to this Rita was susceptible to diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, Hepatitis A and her worries exacerbated when she got pregnant with her first child.

The answer to her worries was in GHEI’s Mother Mentor for Child Development Program (MMCD). We constructed a toilet for Rita and her family. She is now better able to protect her family from sickness…

By Jovana Savic

According to Johns Hopkins University data on the 26th of March, the total confirmed corona virus cases on the African continent are 2,815. The highest number of infected people is in South Africa (709) and Egypt (456), which counts for overall 41% of total identified cases on the continent.[1] At the moment, on average, in the majority of West African countries, the number is just surpassing 100. In reality, although not as fast as the global social panic, the situation would be soon more challenging to control.

Ghana has been a good example of demonstrating a fast…

The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Ghana on 12th March 2020. By 22nd March, the number of confirmed cases increased to 19. After a span of another 10 days, confirmed cases dramatically increased to 195. At the time of writing, Ghana had recorded 214 total confirmed cases and 5 deaths. The disease is spreading at an alarming rate in Ghana.

Evidently, COVID-19 is an emergency on a scale we have not seen or experienced before. It is one of the most urgent health, economic and social crises Ghana has faced in decades. As the number of people contracting…