ACCRA, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ghana faces a looming health crisis as 16 percent of its citizens have no access to clean water, said a Tuesday report by multiple Ghanaian non-governmental organizations.
The Coalition of NGOs in Water, Sanitation (CONIWAS) said that 50 percent of Ghanaian schools suffered clean water shortages, while 30 percent of these schools lacked toilet facilities.
"Some girls in these deprived schools skip classes when they are in menstruation, because they have no appropriate toilet facilities in school to change their sanitary gear," said Basilia Nanbigne, executive secretary of CONIWAS.
Nanbigne warned here on a national clean-water forum that the condition was in part due to shrinking budget for the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector.
The budget for the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources has declined to 0.1 percent of Ghanian gross domestic product in 2019 from 0.3 percent of that in 2018 and 0.5 percent in 2017, Nanbigne said.
Organizers of the WaterAid Ghana forum urged the government to implement its promise in increasing related investments, in a bid to achieve the country's Sustainable Development Goals.
The organizers said that Ghanaian political parties running for the 2020 general elections should also publicize their solutions to the issue.
