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THE GHANA SITUATION

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GHANA – Current SituationData SourcesThe JMP based the 2004 coverage estimates on data from five nationally representative surveys:

-DHS - 1988-DHS – 1993-MICS – 1995 -DHS – 1998-DHS – 2003

The LSS ’88 was not taken into account. Estimates are based on a linear regression of the available data points. Disaggregated data by facility, wealth quintile and province are based on results of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2003.

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JMP Findings on Ghana…/1Access to improved water supply• Almost 40 percent of the urban population relies on public taps as

their main source of drinking water.• The most common source of drinking water for little over 40 percent

of the rural population are hand pumps and protected wells• Over 30 percent of the rural population relies on surface water from

rivers, lakes, ponds or damsAccess to improved sanitation• 54 percent of the rural population relies on a traditional latrine for

defecation. Many of these latrines do not meet the standards for a hygienic latrine, while some may be adequate. Only a proportion of these traditional latrines are counted towards national coverage figures.

• 41 percent of urban residents use a Kumasi VIP latrine (KVIP).• Shared toilet facilities are quite common in urban areas• 31 percent of the rural population practice open defecation

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JMP Findings on Ghana…/2

Access to both improved water supply and sanitation• Only 43 percent of the population has access to both an

improved drinking water source and an improved sanitation facility; 18 percent has neither. Almost a quarter of the population has access to and improved drinking water source, but does not use a sanitary toilet facility. Health impact from safe drinking water and basic sanitation is maximized when households have access to both, and observe basic hygiene practices.

Percentage with access to: Improved Sanitation Not Improved Sanitation

Improved Water Supply 43 24

Not Improved Water Supply 15 18

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Disparities in access between urban and rural areasUrban drinking water coverage is 31 percentage point

higher than rural coverage, 87 percent and 56 percent respectively

Almost three-quarters of the urban population use a sanitary facility in urban areas vs. less than half the rural population. Sanitation coverage is 71 percent and 44 percent respectively.

Striking disparities in coverage between rich and poorThe richest 20 percent are five times more likely to have access to sanitation than the poorest 20 percent of the population.

The richest are two times more likely to use an improved drinking water source as their main source of drinking water, than the poorest.

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Water & Sanitation coverage

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2003 DHS

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Trends in Urban/Rural Disparities

Source: JMP Special tabulation for Ghana, 2005

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Trends in Access – the Population Challenge

By 2004, Ghana has experienced a 56% percent increase in its urban population since 1990. Despite the fact that over 2.5 million people in urban areas gained access to an improved drinking water source, this increasing urbanization, meant that drinking water coverage in urban areas only increased by 1 percentage point. Coverage in rural areas increased by 10 percentage points equal to an additional 2.8 million people gaining access over the same period.

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Source: JMP Special tabulation for Ghana, 2005

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Towards the MDGs – acceleration needed to meet the targets

• In 1990, the baseline year for the MDGs, 40 percent of the population of Ghana had no access to an improved drinking water source and 56 percent did not have access to sanitation. Halving this proportion of people without access by 2015 means bringing these percentages back to 20 and 28 percent respectively – equaling a coverage of 80 percent for drinking water and 72 percent for sanitation. The Government of Ghana has adopted similar targets.

• Reaching these targets would bring the total population without water down from 6.9 million in 2004 to 5.3 million in 2015 and from 9.8 million down to 7.4 million for sanitation.

• The absolute number of people with access to an improved sanitation facility in 2004 needs to be doubled by 2015.

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Ghana trends to reach the MDG targets on water and sanitation

63

80

68

60

44

54

7472

40

50

60

70

80

90

1990 2004 2015

Year

Co

ve

rag

e (

%)

Source: JMP Special tabulation for Ghana, 2005

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MDG Challenge: How many Ghanaians need to gain access every year until 2015?To reach these MDG targets, over the period 2004 –

2015, based on the JMP estimates, every year on average 596,000 people need to gain access to an improved water supply and 674,000 to improved sanitation. Compared to the gains over the period 1990 – 2004 where on average respectively 383,000 and 346,000 people yearly gained access to an improved drinking water source and improved sanitation. This means a 56% increase in efforts on water supply and almost a doubling of efforts on sanitation.

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YearPopulation

(x1000)%

Urban

Access (%)Population with access

(x 1000)

Water Sanitation

Water Sanitation

Pop. /year Pop. /year

1990 15,277 33.5 60 44 9,113 6,708

2000 19,593 36.1 65 51 12,816 370 9,994 328

2004 21,377 37.4 68 54 14,481 416 11,551 389

2015 26,359 42.4 80 72 21,041 596 18,967 674

Source: JMP Special tabulation for Ghana, 2005