Project profile — Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Public Health Program

• Ghana (100.00%)

• Basic Health: Health education (12261) (15.00%)
• Population Policies/Programmes And Reproductive Health: Reproductive health care (13020) (10.00%)
• Basic drinking water supply:
Basic drinking water supply (14031) (25.00%)
Basic sanitation (14032) (30.00%)
Education and training in water supply and sanitation (14081) (20.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project aims to improve the health of up to 47,000 Ghanaians, including mothers, their newborns and 4,500 schoolchildren, in Bongo and Kassena Nankana West districts. It seeks to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) service delivery and practices, as well as to develop a more integrated approach to public health in the Upper East Region. The project provides environmentally-friendly sanitation facilities and access to potable water to schools and health facilities, raises awareness among birth attendants, health service staff and community members, and develops a new approach to public health planning. Project activities include: (1) designing and constructing safe and gender-appropriate water and sanitation facilities (including biofill and biogas latrines, solar-powered pumps and mechanized boreholes) in 15 schools and 8 health facilities; (2) raising awareness about WASH and preventative health practices in 15 schools and 8 health facilities; (3) training authorities in two districts, five small towns and three rural communities to deliver, implement and monitor integrated WASH and health planning; and (4) holding WASH and health workshops for district, regional and national-level stakeholders, including for private sector where appropriate, to facilitate linkages and allow sharing of best practices.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) improved maternal, newborn and child health, and public health outcomes, in Bongo and Bawku West districts through improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) service delivery and practices; and (2) strengthened and integrated health, water and sanitation planning in the target districts, and dissemination of best practices at a regional level.

Results achieved as of the end of project (December 2019) include: (1) 60,529 individuals (of which 36,281 were women) from 22 schools, 17 healthcare facilities and 21 communities have access to safe water, through solar mechanized water systems and, where this has not possible, rainwater harvesting systems and boreholes were provided; (2) 46,489 individuals (of which 29,700 were women) have access to gender inclusive biodigester/biogas toilet facilities, including handwashing systems, located in 13 schools and eight healthcare facilities; (3) 131 individuals have been trained as latrine artisans, resulting in the acceleration of household latrine coverage to 62.1% in Kassena Nankana West district and 60.6% in Bongo district, against the project target of 54%; (4) 19 communities attained open defecation-free status; (5) 32 school health clubs were formed to carry out hygiene and sanitation awareness-raising activities with peers; (6) three government institutions (District Assemblies, the District Health Directorate and the District Educational Directorate) increased their capacity to work in an integrated manner to ensure the realization of sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) outcomes, including the allocation of resources in their annual budgets for WASH activities; and (7) 14 incinerators were constructed in 14 healthcare facilities for safe disposal of medical waste.

• Proactive disclosure