Let's Have Commercial Toilets At All Fuel Stations to Curb Open Defecation.

Byline: Edmund Smith-Asante

Ghanaian engineer and technologist, Dr. Albert M. Wright, who introduced the Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit (KVIP), has prescribed the mandatory construction of toilets at the country's many fuel stations, to help curb the high incidence of open defecation in the country.

He said such a move would in the short term make improved sanitation facilities available, not only to motorists, but many more Ghanaians who do not have access and thus make them refrain from defecating in open spaces.

A cursory survey at fuel stations dotted across the country, shows that averagely they have two toilets - one for males and one for females (mostly for staff), while some only have make shift urinals for motorists who may want to empty their bladder.

Speaking in an exclusive interview at the just-ended Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene held in Mumbai, India, Dr. Wright said "the incidence of open defecation in urban areas is because we do not have sanitation systems at the household level or in the public places."

"If you want to stop open defecation, then we must provide an alternative place for people to do it and I think the short term approach is, one, to have a public toilet which works …