Bathing Facilities

The main types of bathing facilities used by households are shown in Table 12.17. The three leading types are shared separate bathroom in the same house (33.3%), own bathroom for exclusive use (31.1%), shared open cubicle (14.7%) and open space around house (6.3%). This pattern is maintained in urban areas. In rural areas, however, own bathroom for exclusive use is more common. Wassa Amenfi East, Wassa Amenfi West, Aowin/ Suaman, Sefwi Akontombra, Sefwi Wiawso and Juaboso recorded a pattern similar to that for rural areas, while all other districts followed the urban pattern.

Toilet Facilities

The most popular toilet facilities are public toilet (37.4%), pit latrine (30.1%), WC (13.4%) and bush/beach/field (11.9%). In urban areas public toilet is commonly used especially in Nzema East (19.6%), Sekondi - Takoradi Metro (42.1%) and Shama (25.1%) and Prestea/HuniValley (26.8%) (Table 12.18). In rural areas on the other hand, pit latrine is most common (23.3%) except Jomoro, Ellembelle and Ahanta West where “free range” was common.

Waste Disposal

The majority of households (81.4%) dump their refuse either in an open space (1 in 2), container (1 in 5) or indiscriminately (1 in 10). Rubbish is collected in only 8.2 percent of households. The rest are either burned or buried. In urban areas, most households dump their rubbish in a public container while in rural areas most do so in the open space.

Liquid Waste

Liquid waste is usually thrown onto the compound, street/outside or into the gutter and these accounts for about 84 percent of households. Only 11 percent of households dispose of liquid waste through the drainage system into a gutter. In urban areas, liguid waste is mainly disposed off into a gutter, onto compound and through drainage system into a gutter, while in rural areas it is mainly thrown onto compound or street/outside.