Information Communication Technology

Introduction

Information Communication Technology (ICT) refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. Modern information and communication technologies have transformed the world to a "global village," in which people can communicate with others across the world as if they are living next door. This has provided Ghana with a vast array of new communication capabilities of which Hemang Lower Denkyira District is of no exception.

Numerous benefits ranging from social, economic, political, cultural, education, health and most importantly greater access to information, communication and fast business transactions derive from ICT. The 2010 Population and Housing Census collected data on ownership and use of mobile phones, desktop/laptop computers and fixed telephone lines and internet facility by households and individual persons 12 years and older. This Chapter examines the extent to which persons 12 years and above in Hemang Lower Denkyira District access ICT.

Ownership of Mobile Phones

Table 5.1 presents ownership of mobile phones and internet facility usage for persons 12 years and older in the Hemang Lower Denkyira District by sex. The Table shows that 11,717 persons constituting 32.2 percent of the district’s population 12 years and older own mobile phones. This proportion, however, falls short of the region’s average of 44.9 percent. Disaggregated by sex, a high proportion of males (39.5%) compared to females (25.3%) own and use mobile phones.

Use of Internet

Table 5.1 also shows a low proportion of 1.7 percent internet usage for persons 12 years and older in the district. A high proportion of males (2.6%) compared to females (0.9%) use internet facility. Despite numerous opportunities offered by internet as a tool for development, significant disparity exist between users who have the means to access information and those who do not (Awotwi and Owusu 2008). The major barriers relate to educational, technological and financial. In particular, access to internet services in a predominately rural districts such as HLDD due to the limited broadband presence as well as limitations imposed by low education and income on the part of potential users.

Household Ownership of Desktop or Laptop Computer

With reference to Table 5.2, the ownership of desktop/laptop computers by the households in Hemang Lower Denkyira District is low at 2.4 percent. This low proportion may be due to the cost of purchasing it and low level of knowledge in its usage. A high proportion of 78.7 percent male headed households own desktop/laptop computers as compared to 22.3 percent female headed households.

Housing Conditions

Housing Stock

Table 8.1 provides insight into the housing situation in the Hemang Lower Denkyira District. The total number of houses in the District stands at 8,861 as shown in Table 8.1. With the District population of 55,131, the number of persons per house is six. On the average, there are 4.5 or approximately five persons in each household in the District. This gives an average of 1.4 (approximately 1 household) household per house in the District.

However, the average households per house and population per house are higher in the urban areas than the averages for the HLDD (see Table 8.1). Indeed the figures for the urban areas of the district are even higher than the national and regional averages. This suggests possible overcrowding and congestions within among households located in urban centres in the HLDD. In this respect, the HLDD Assembly needs to devote some level of attention to housing in the urban part of the district since many of the difficulties encountered in towns and cities, especially among the poor and low-income groups are related to housing.

Type of Dwelling, Holding and Tenancy Arrangement

House ownership

Table 8.2 shows the ownership of dwellings by sex of household head and type of locality. Majority of houses (72.6%) in the district are owned by household members whereby 17.6 percent are in the urban areas and 54.9 in the rural areas respectively. About 24.5 percent of the housing units are also owned by other private individuals and relatives who are not household members.

Housing units not owned or being purchased by household members or a relative are either owned by private individuals, private employer, private agency or public/government who have rented these out to the occupants. Other private agency-owned housing is very low in the district. For all the ownership status, male headed households are higher, as compared to female headed households.

Type of occupied dwelling

Table 8.3 illustrates the type of occupied dwelling unit by sex of household head and type of locality. From the Table, 43 percent of households in the district live in compound houses of which 59.7 percent are in urban areas, and 36 percent in rural areas. Compound houses refer to dwelling units habited by multiply households and sharing common courtyard and facilities such as toilets, bathrooms and kitchens. This type of housing is most common form of dwelling unit among the poor and low-income groups due to its relatively low rent. The next major type of dwelling unit is the separate house, which accounted for 40.4 percent of houses. About 9.6 percent of houses in the district are semi-detached houses, and 3.2 percent also live in huts/buildings (same compound) and low proportion (2.0%) live in flat apartments. All other types of dwelling, apart from those with over one percent, have insignificant proportions ranging from 0.1 to 0.2 percent.

Unlike large metropolitan centres in Ghana, the low proportion of insecure structures such as tents; improvised home (kiosk/container etc.); living quarters attached to office/shop and; incomplete buildings suggest that possible less scarcity in housing, especially in rural areas of the district. The data further shows that about 43.6 percent of male-headed households live in separate houses, while 39.6 percent live in compound houses. Nearly half (49.9%) of female-headed households live in compound houses, while 9.6 percent of them live in separate houses. The proportion of male-headed households living in huts in the district is 3.2 percent, which is higher than the corresponding female-headed proportion.

Construction Materials

Main construction materials for outer wall of dwelling unit

The type of materials used in the construction of dwelling units gives indications of the socioeconomic status of the occupants. It also has implications for the health and general wellbeing of the occupants. Table 8.4 reveals that a high proportion (58.9%) of households in the HLDD live in houses with walls made of mud brick/earth – made up of 39.9 percent urban and 66.6 percent rural households. The next main construction material for outer wall constituting 35.8 percent is cement blocks/concrete. Other construction materials are used in limited scale: burnt bricks, (2%), wood (1.5%) and metal sheet/slate/asbestos (0.6%). The remaining households live in houses with walls made of concrete (0.5%), bamboo (0.3%), and palm leaf/thatch (grass)/raffia (0.2%).

Main construction material for the floor of dwelling unit by type of locality Table 8.5 presents main construction materials used for the floor of dwelling units by type of locality

It can be seen from Table 8.5 that floors are largely made of cement or concrete (78.8%), followed by earth or mud/earth (19.4%). Floors made of tiles, marble or terrazzo put together constitute only 0.7 percent of materials used for the floor of dwelling units in the district. The common material for floors is cement for both urban (87.7%) and rural (75.1%) households.

Main construction material for roofing of dwelling unit by type of locality

There are different materials for constructing floors; the materials used for roofing also vary. About 77.9 percent of households live in housing units with roofs made from metal sheets with 92.5 in the urban and 72.1 in the rural areas (see Table 8.6). Significant proportions (10.8%) of households live in housing units with roofs made of thatch/palm leaf or raffia. Other materials used for roofing in the THLDD are: bamboo (7%) and slates (1.5%). Table 8.6 shows that apart from metal sheets, the roofing materials mostly used by rural households are the palm leaf/raffia (14%) and bamboo (8.9%). Other materials such as cement/concrete (0.5%), wood (0.8%), slate (1.6%) are hardly used. Roofing tiles, which are a new phenomenon in the building industry in the cities, are not yet used in the district.

Room Occupancy

Household by size and number of sleeping rooms occupied in dwelling unit

Table 8.7 shows household sleeping room occupancy and number of ‘sleeping rooms’ per house available in the district. The Table indicates that proportion of single households with only one sleeping room is very high. Indeed, more than 93.9 percent of households with one person sleep in one room. The occupants of such single sleeping rooms are likely to include young people starting independent life. The corresponding figure of households of one person in two rooms is 3.9 percent. Room occupancy of household of two persons in one room is 78 percent. Also, room occupancy of household of 3 in 2 rooms is 20.5 percent, while household of 4 in 2 rooms is 21.3 percent. The data on the table show that significant proportions of the households have 1 to 3 rooms for sleeping. It can also be noted that room occupancy of 10 persons and more in 2 and 3 rooms have proportions of 25.8 percent and 25 percent respectively.

Access to Utilities and Household Facilities

Main source of lighting of dwelling unit by type of locality Table 8.8 shows the main sources of lighting of dwelling unit by type of locality. The Table indicates that electricity from the national grid is the main source of lighting widely used in the district. This is followed by kerosene lamp (24.3.7%) and flashlight/torch (18.2%). Another source of lighting with almost one percent usage is private generators (0.6%). Other sources of lighting barely used are gas lamp (0.1%), solar energy (0.1%), candle (0.2%), and firewood (0.3%).

Main source of cooking fuel and cooking space used by household

Table 8.9 shows the main source of cooking fuel and cooking space used by households. The Table shows that the main source of fuel for cooking in the district is wood. It is the cooking fuel used by more than 73 percent of households, especially rural households (86.0%). Urban households which also use wood are 42.8 percent. Another source of cooking fuel is charcoal used by 38.2 percent of urban households and 7.1 percent rural households. Although liquidified petroleum gas (LPG) has been extensively promoted in the last three decades in Ghana as alternative to fuelwood and also as a meant of reducing deforestation through charcoal, it only used in limited extent by households in the HLDD (5.3%). Disaggregated by locality, the proportion of urban and rural households using gas in the district is 13.1 percent and 2.0 percent respectively.

The relatively low patronage of gas is largely due low incomes and cost usage as well as its limited availability, especially in rural areas. The use of the other sources of fuel (electricity, kerosene and crop residue, saw dust, animal waste) are either minimal or nil. Table 8.9 further shows various cooking spaces used by households. Poor cooking has implications for households’ health as poor ventilated spaces are associated with upper respiratory diseases and the general ambient within homes. More than half (53.9%) of households in the district have separate rooms for exclusive use for cooking. A significant proportion (16.9%) of households cook on verandahs and 12 percent also cook in open spaces. About 6 percent have no cooking space; around the same proportions cook in structures with roofs but without walls and in separate rooms shared with other households. 58 Cooking in exclusive separate rooms is more prevalent in rural (61.7%) than urban (35.2%) households while more urban (32.6%) than rural (10.3%) households cook on verandas.

Main source of Water for Drinking and for Other Domestic Use

Source of water for drinking Quality and safe drinking water is an essential requirement to the population considering its numerous health and welfare implications. Figure 8.2 shows the major sources of drinking water in the district They are bore-hole/pump/tube well (42.5%), river/stream (18.9%) and pipe-borne outside dwelling (11.2%). Sachet water (1.2%) and bottled water (0.2%) are gradually gaining grounds in terms of drinking water. Tanker supplier/vendor provider source is insignificant in the district. Higher proportion of rural households (54%) use borehole/pump/tube well than urban households (15.2%). Furthermore, river/stream is widely used by rural households (25.9%) compared to 2.5 percent urban. In other words, almost one in three households in the THLDD uses river/stream – a source largely considered as unsafe for drinking.

Source of water for other domestic purposes

 Table 8.10 shows the main sources of water for domestic purposes. Almost all the drinking water sources are also the sources for domestic purposes with the exception of sachet and bottled water. Main sources of water for domestic purposes from the highest usage to the lowest are; bore hole/pump/tube well (39.8%); river/stream (23.3%); public tap/stand pipe (12.9%); pipe-borne outside dwelling (8.7%); protected well (7.9%) and; unprotected well (4.1%).

Bathing and Toilet Facilities

 An efficient and hygienic method of human waste disposal in a dwelling unit is a critical indicator of the sanitary condition of the unit and an indirect measure of the socio-economic status of the household. Indeed, many of the MDGs are linked to decent housing with efficient sanitation and waste management systems. Table 8.11 presents the types of toilet and bathing facilities used by households in the district. More than two fifth (42.7%) of households in the district use pit latrine, 31.9 percent use public toilet and; a sizable proportion of households (16.9%) do not have toilet facility. Bucket/pan toilet facility in the district has low patronage (0.2%) with more urban households (0.5%) than rural (0.1%) households using the facility.

The Table thus indicates that pit latrine is widest used toilet facility in the district. This toilet facility is normally not well covered and exposed to the elements and potentially a source for contaminated groundwater and the spread of diseases. Moreover, the almost 17 percent of households with no toilet facility in all probabilities engage in open defecation or what is sometimes referred to as ‘free range’. In areas, where open defecation is widely practiced it has implications for the health population as well as the spread of diseases. Own bathroom for exclusive use (35.3%) is the most commonly used bathing facility by households in the district. This is followed by shared separate bathroom in the same house (26.3%). The least used facility is public bathhouse (0.5%). The proportion of rural households (38.0%) that use own exclusive bathrooms is higher compared to urban households (28.9%).