Mr Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, has instructed district assemblies to consider the construction of public places of convenience at strategic locations to help reduce open defecation in the region.

This follows a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report in the Ghanaian Times newspaper dated Friday January 20, 2012 with the headline: “Upper East Tops in ‘open range’ ratings”.

Mr Woyongo made this known on Friday, at the Annual Regional Health Sector Performance Review Meeting in Bolgatanga, organized by the Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service on Friday.

He said instructions had been given to the various district assemblies in the Region to ensure that building plans, which did not make provision for toilet facilities were not approved of.

He indicated that positive health behavioral change practices by individuals was the best way to accelerate the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) four, five and six, while current poor sanitation-related preventable diseases continue to bedevil the region.

Mr Woyongo appealed to chiefs, opinion leaders and household heads to support district assemblies in their sanitation campaigns, enforcement of sanitation byelaws and continuous public education at the community level.

“The sanitation programme is particularly dear to my heart. Despite efforts of my administration in declaring ‘Zero-tolerance to litter’ in the region, a lot more remains to be done; and that difference is better achieved by the involvement of all heads of households and community leadership” he stressed.

Mr Alagskomah Asekeya Noble, Vice Chairman of the Coalition of NGOs in Health in the Upper East Region, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, called for an effective and intensified education on improved sanitation and health to prevent open defecation within human settlements.

He appealed to Municipal Assemblies to enforce existing byelaws on sanitation in order to prevent the outbreak of sanitation related diseases.

He lauded the Regional Minister for the urgency he had attached to sanitation issues in the Region on sustained basis.