OPEN DEFECATION AND HOW TO PREVENT IT IN GHANAIAN COMMUNITIES
Open defecation refers to the practise of defecating in fields, forests, bushes, bodies of water, or other open spaces. Defecating in the open is an affront to dignity and risk to children’s nutrition and to community health. The elimination of open defecation is recognized as a top priority for improving health, nutrition, and productivity of developing country populations and is explicitly mentioned in SDG target 6.2.
The following joint strategies can enable communities, both rural and peri-urban, to become completely open defecation free and remain so: Sanitation marketing, behavior change communication, and 'enhanced' community-led total sanitation supplemented by 'nudging.
There are several drivers used to eradicate open defecation, one of which is behavior change. SaniFOAM (Focus on Opportunity, Ability, and Motivation) is a conceptual framework that was developed specifically to address issues of sanitation and hygiene. Using focus, opportunity, ability and motivation as categories of determinants, SaniFOAM model identifies barriers to latrine adoption while simultaneously serving as a tool for designing, monitoring and evaluating sanitation interventions. The following are some of the key drivers used to fight against open defecation in addition to behavior change:]
Political will
Sanitation solutions that offer a better value than open defecation
Stronger public sector local service delivery systems
Creation of the right incentive structures
Integrated initiatives
Efforts to reduce open defecation are more or less the same as those to achieve the MDG target on access to sanitation.] A key aspect is awareness-raising (for example via the UN World Toilet Day at a global level), behavior change campaigns, increasing political will as well as demand for sanitation. Community-Led Total Sanitation campaigns have placed a particular focus on ending open defecation by "triggering" the communities themselves into action.
Simple sanitation technology options
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Residents in Mymensingh, Bangladesh participate in a workshop to discover more about mobile sanitation options (MoSan) as an alternative to open defecation
There are some simple sanitation technology options available to reduce open defecation prevalence if the open defecation behavior is due to not having toilets in the household and shared toilets being too far or too dangerous to reach, e.g., at night.
Toilet bags
Toilet bags: People might already use plastic bags (also called flying toilets) at night to contain their feces. However, a more advanced solution of the plastic toilet bag has been provided by the Swedish company People who are producing the "Peepoo bag", a "personal, single-use, self-sanitizing, fully biodegradable toilet that prevents feces from contaminating the immediate area as well as the surrounding ecosystem".] This bag is now being used in humanitarian responses, schools, and urban slums in developing countries.
Bucket toilets and urine diversion
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Bucket toilets are a simple portable toilet option. They can be upgraded in various ways, one of them being urine diversion which can make them similar to urine-diverting dry toilets. Urine diversion can significantly reduce odors from dry toilets. Examples of using this type of toilet to reduce open defecation are the "MoSan toilet (used in Kenya) or the urine-diverting dry toilet promoted by SOIL in Haiti.
Society and culture
Media
The mainstream media in some affected countries have recently been picking up on this issue of open defecation, for example, in India and Pakistan.
Legal status
In certain jurisdictions, open or public defecation is a criminal offense which can be punished with a fine or even imprisonment.
David Sedaris' essay "Adventures at Poo Corner" dealt with people who openly defecate in commercial businesses.
Open defecation during outdoor activities
Some national parks prohibit open defecation in some areas.[88][89] If defecating openly, the general advice is to defecate into a dug hole, and cover with soil.
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