WaterAid Ghana update stakeholders on status of WASH implementation in Health Facilities in Wassa East District

WaterAid Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO) and the Conrad N Hilton Foundation (CNHF) in a joint implementation of the Sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Healthcare Facilities (WASH in HCFs) project, on the 26^th May 2023 organized a baseline and budget tracking and policy analysis validation workshop to update stakeholders on the status of implementation at Daboase in Wassa East District of the Western Region.

The initiative aims to enhance access to dependable water, low cost, and long lasting WASH services in Ghanaian healthcare facilities. The project is concurrently being implemented in Asutifi North and Wassa East Districts.

The Head of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns for WaterAid Ghana Mr. George Yorke in an address said the main goal of Water Aid is to strengthen the WASH and health services by expanding access to dependable and cleaner water and cost-effective, and sustainable WASH services within the District.

He further said the project will take a full year to set up the essentials, utilise existing infrastructure, establish a baseline, and analyze and observe problems on the ground. This, he claimed, will contribute to shaping the program's future course.

He added that the project is currently running in three countries in Africa, namely Ghana, Uganda and Ethiopia.

For his part, Dr. Chaka Uzondu, a consultant and a researcher for WaterAid revealed that there are more than 30 health facilities in Wassa East district alone. According to him, a research conducted by his unit showed that sustainable water and WASH services were available in almost all the facilities in the District. He added that available information indicates that WASH allocated budget for each of the facilities meet the targeted expectation and all facilities have recorded some level of improvement for the last six years starting from 2017 to 2022.

Dr. Uzondu noted that the findings of the research categorized WASH as basic water, basic sanitation, basic hygiene, basic health care and waste management services. With an average per percentage of 26%, 32%, 33%, and 19% respectively for the Western Region while 11%, 55%, and 27% respectively were recorded for Wassa East District.

He emphasized that some figures may differ from time to time since life is not static as situation are bound to change based on circumstances and urged the management of the facilities to be strategic in the delivery of health services.

The Acting Programmes Manager and Lead of the project Mrs Seyram Asimah announced a five months partnership deal with Support for Community Mobilization Project Programme(SCMPP), a Community-Based Organisation (CBO) in Daboase, explaining that per the project design and arrangement, it is prudent to partner with a resident community-based organization to support WaterAid in performing some portions of the activities under the programme such as data collection in beneficiary communities and also conduct due diligence as well as ensure compliance by CEOs within WaterAid facilities.

The Team leader for SCMPP, Mr Agyapaboa also added that the partnership involves engaging with various health centers and CHPS compounds in various communities for data. He further asked for the support of Nananom, Assembly Members and other stakeholders in achieving the intended objectives of the project.

Earlier, Hon. Emmanuel Boakye, the District Chief Executive for Wassa East in his welcome address thanked WaterAid for the support. He acknowledged the importance of water in contributing to human existence, hence the saying "water is life," adding that water has no replacement.

He further indicated that the District under his watch is delighted to be selected from the Western region for the exercise, stressing that, the programme presents an opportunity for the district to inculcate WASH in all its activities especially when performing analysis and budgeting for projects.