BONGO
Bongo district is in the Upper East Region of
Ghana in the arid north of the country.
Bongo town is the administrative centre and
there are 219 small communities.
The total population is about 80,000 many of
whom are subsistence farmers.
Most communities have no electricity or piped
water so water is normally carried from boreholes, handdug wells and scoop holes. Water quality is
often substandard. Few families have access to
any form of toilet. Child mortality is over 20% and this is largely
related to issues of water and sanitation. |
WATER
Water sources
• Bore holes
• Hand-dug wells
• Scoop holes in dried up streams
Issues
• Scoop-hole water is not fit to drink
• Water is stored in open pots
• Open waste
Fluoride in water
• Naturally occurring from rock
• Causes dental fluorosis (weak, brown teeth)
• Causes skeletal fluorosis
• Wells capped due to fluoride level
SANITATION
• Only 30% of population have access to sanitation
• 70% of population ‘free-range’ (defecate outside)
• Household latrines cost approximately US$200 each
to build and can be used for small communities or for
individual households |
