Abstract
Public pay-per-use toilets are the only alternative to open defecation for a significant number of people in many low-income, urban neighbourhoods where insecure tenure, space constraints, and/or cost make private sanitation facilities unfeasible. This study explores public toilet use, characteristics of public toilet customers and possible improvements to public toilet facilities in four neighbourhoods in Accra, Ghana, the country with the highest reliance on shared sanitation facilities globally. Reliance on public toilets ranged considerably depending on neighbourhood affluence, but even some people living in compounds with a private toilet used a public toilet. The vast majority of users were adults. Few public toilet customers could foresee owning a household toilet in the coming year, mostly because of lack of space, and they voiced desires for more and cleaner public toilets with better provision of handwashing facilities. Improved accessibility and management of public toilets, along with facilities more suitable for children, could reduce open defecation.
Highlights
Inadequate sanitation infrastructure is one of the key factors that distinguish slums(1) from other urban areas
Vol 27 No 2 October 2015 outcomes is considered higher when anyone can use the sanitation facility.(6) Additional considerations include the distance involved in accessing shared sanitation facilities, the risk of violence against women and the lack of accommodation for children under the age of five.(7) Ghana relies more heavily on shared sanitation in urban areas than any other country, with an estimated 72 per cent of its urban population using shared facilities.(8) Political stability and a growing economy fuel steady migration into Accra, a rapidly growing city of 3.9 million.(9) This growth has resulted in the expansion of low-income neighbourhoods where an estimated 58 per cent of Accra’s residents live in crowded housing, with inadequate water supplies, poor sanitation infrastructure and sub-standard hygiene practices.(10)
As defined by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), such toilets are characterized by their location in public places, their availability to anyone, and the charge required for each use.(11) Public toilets were first constructed in Ghanaian cities by the British government in the 1930s
Summary
Inadequate sanitation infrastructure is one of the key factors that distinguish slums(1) from other urban areas. As defined by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), such toilets are characterized by their location in public places, their availability to anyone, and the charge required for each use.(11) Public toilets were first constructed in Ghanaian cities by the British government in the 1930s. Their numbers continued to increase during the post-colonial era as they came to be a practical means for addressing the sanitation needs of growing urban populations and a reliable source of revenue for sub-metropolitan councils.(12) In 2012, the public health department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly reported 340 registered public toilet facilities. Most household and public toilets either discharge liquid effluents into the storm drainage system or dump them into the ocean.(14)
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