Information Communication Technology (ICT)

Introduction
 
Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the 21st century has a direct contribution towards the success of an individual, organization or a country as a whole. The recognition of the relevance of ICT is reflected in actions such as the development of a national ICT infrastructure, institutional and regulatory framework for managing the sector, promoting the use of ICT in all sectors of the economy, implementing e-governance in all government institutions and the construction of a National Data Centre as well as Regional Innovation Centres and district ICT centres across the country (GSS, 2010). This chapter focuses on the analysis of the usage of ICT in the district.

It discusses the ownership and usage of mobile phones and internet facility by sex. The chapter also discusses household ownership and usage of desktop/laptop computers, household possession of fixed telephone lines by sex of the household head.

Ownership of Mobile Phones

Table 5.1 shows that there are 101,779 persons aged 12 years and older in the Sagnarigu District. Out of this, about half (48.4%) own mobile phones. A higher proportion of males (54.9%) than females (41.9%), however, own mobile phones in the district.

Use of Internet
 
Table 5.1 further has information on the use of the internet. It shows that the use of internet in the district is quite low with a little less than one in 10 (9.0%) persons 12 years and older using the internet facility. A higher proportion of the males (12.0%) than the females (5.9%) use the internet, a situation which could be due to differences in education between the males and females not only in the district but Ghana as a whole.

Use of Internet

Table 5.1 further has information on the use of the internet. It shows that the use of internet in the district is quite low with a little less than one in 10 (9.0%) persons 12 years and older using the internet facility. A higher proportion of the males (12.0%) than the females (5.9%) use the internet, a situation which could be due to differences in education between the males and females not only in the district but Ghana as a whole.

   Housing

Room Occupancy

Information on number of sleeping rooms available to a household is useful in determining whether or not the space available to households could lead to overcrowding. Obviously, room occupancy levels have some impacts on individual health risk exposure particularly to communicable diseases in the event of an outbreak.

As shown in Table 8.7, 28.7 percent of the households in the district have only one sleeping room, 23.2 percent have two rooms while 17.9 percent and 10.8 percent have three and four rooms respectively. Households that have access to five or more rooms represent 19.3 percent 55 in the district.

In terms of the number of sleeping rooms available by household size, we find that 81.8 percent of one-member households occupy one room while the remaining 19.2 percent have access to two or more rooms. For two-member households, 61.6 percent have one room, 27.5 percent have two rooms and the remaining 10.9 percent have three rooms or more.

The distribution of rooms by household size further suggests that at each level of household size between one and four, a higher proportion up to 80 percent or more have access to rooms ranging from one to four rooms. This may imply that although there may be some overcrowding, it may not be too acute in the district.

Construction Materials for roofing of dwelling units and type of locality

In Table 8.6, information on the type of material used for the roofing of dwelling units in the Sagnarigu District is presented. From the table, two roofing materials stand out. These are metal sheet used by four in five of dwelling units (80.5%) and thatch/palm leaf or raffia which is used by 13.2 percent of the dwellings.

The use of these two roofing materials also varies between the urban and rural localities with the former using more of metal sheet (88.1%) than the latter (68.2%). In contrast, a higher proportion of rural localities (26.1%) use thatch/palm leaf or raffia for roofing their dwellings than urban areas (5.3%).

Room Occupancy

Information on number of sleeping rooms available to a household is useful in determining whether or not the space available to households could lead to overcrowding. Obviously, room occupancy levels have some impacts on individual health risk exposure particularly to communicable diseases in the event of an outbreak.

As shown in Table 8.7, 28.7 percent of the households in the district have only one sleeping room, 23.2 percent have two rooms while 17.9 percent and 10.8 percent have three and four rooms respectively. Households that have access to five or more rooms represent 19.3 percent 55 in the district. In terms of the number of sleeping rooms available by household size, we find that 81.8 percent of one-member households occupy one room while the remaining 19.2 percent have access to two or more rooms.

For two-member households, 61.6 percent have one room, 27.5 percent have two rooms and the remaining 10.9 percent have three rooms or more. The distribution of rooms by household size further suggests that at each level of household size between one and four, a higher proportion up to 80 percent or more have access to rooms ranging from one to four rooms. This may imply that although there may be some overcrowding, it may not be too acute in the district.