Human Development Report 2006, to be launched today

Ghana ranks 136th in this year's Human Development Report, Mr Dauda Toure, Resident Representative of the United Nations Systems in Ghana, has said.

He said Ghana has moved from the 138th position for last year to the 136th out of 177 countries, indicating a slight improvement in its human development standards.

Mr Toure was speaking at a press briefing in Accra to highlight the launch of the global Human Development Report in Ghana scheduled for Tuesday November 14.

The Report under the theme: "Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crises” emphasizes achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), much of which depended on strengthening water governance at local, national, regional and global levels.

Mr Toure said it was rather unfortunate that almost all the African countries were at the bottom of the table, although the Report focused on people's lives, and “getting things that matter for the people to have better lives".

He said although Ghana has registered a better life for its people compared to previous years, there was still a lot to be done, especially in the areas of access to water and sanitation, the main focus of this year's Report.

"Access to water has improved for a number of people in Ghana, especially within the cities, but within the slums and the rural areas, there is still a lot to be done.

"In terms of sanitation, it was rather sad that people are seen daily urinating on the corners of buildings and on the street even within the cities with very worst situation in slums and the rural areas, indicating that Ghana still had a lot to do in terms of ensuring good sanitation," Mr Toure said.

He said in striving to achieve the MDGs, focus should not be lost of the fact that each of the eight goals was inextricable tied to the next, especially in terms of accessing water and sanitation.

Mr Toure said the possibility of Ghana achieving the MDGs cannot be ruled out if only the political will was sustained, and if the private sector and the local communities continued to contribute more efficiently and the donor community continued to support her.