Toilets in Ghana

Sanitation in Ghana
Ghana is facing the issue of a lack of sanitation infrastructure. The rapid urbanisation of Ghana over the past three decades means that city authorities have been unable to provide basic water and sanitation services, as a result 19% of the population resorts to open defecation. In Kumasi, Ghana’s largest metropolitan region, 40% of the population reply on public toilets, but there is only 1 toilet per 1000 people. Therefore, there is a great need for affordable portable sanitation technologies to be developed.

CSIR-IIR Toilets
The Ghanaian Government has launched the GAMA Sanitation and Water Project which aims to construct 1000 household toilets in low income communities in the Ga West Municipal Assembly. As part of this project the costs of toilets are highly subsidised. Different institutions have developed toilet designs which are displayed within targeted communities. Members of the community can place orders and the toilet is delivered and installed by their house.


The CSIR-IIR has developed a toilet design which uses bamboo as the main component of the superstructure. Bamboo is a material which grows naturally and in abundance in Ghana, the use of bamboo reduces the cost of the CSIR-IIR toilet.




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