Accra, June 3, GNA - Five publications, including a 98-page Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Directory, were on Wednesday launched to provide adequate information and make drinking water and sanitation data available and accessible for the development of the sector.

The WASH Sector Directory is titled: "A Directory of Ghana's Water and Sanitation Sector". The rest are Data Flow in Ghana's Water and Sanitation Sector; Status of Ghana's Drinking Water and Sanitation Sector - Summary Sheet; the Use of Improved Sanitation Facilities in Ghana - a Graphical Representation and a flyer.

Mr Albert Adongo, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, in a speech read for him, commended the Water and Sanitation Monitoring Platform (WSMP) for the publication, saying it would help to bridge the information gap and promote quality services within the sector. He said the Ministry with support from UNICEF and the European Commission launched the WSMP last year, as a pilot project to coordinate and assemble data, analyse and disseminate it to all sector players to reduce the problem of conflicting information on the sector. He said the WSMP was also to raise awareness on pertinent issues affecting the sector's progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for Water and Sanitation. Mr Adongo acknowledged the critical role of accurate data in the provision of water and sanitation services, saying the publications would provide ready information to actors in the sector on who did what, where and how and promote easy communication and networking within the sector.

The Minister called on all service providers, both under government and the private sector, as well as all stakeholders to work together to ensure accurate provision of services for the benefit of the people. Mr Adongo appealed to all who are involved in data acquisition especially at the community and district levels to be more diligent in their assignments and always provide credible information to aid government in making good decisions.

Mr Yaw Sarkodie, Team Leader, WSMP, said it intended to make water and sanitation user friendly and also analyse how far Ghana had gone in terms of quality service provision in order to meet the MDG targets by the set date.

He said the Platform would remain committed to its task of ensuring the packaging of simple publications in both hard and soft electronic mediums, through carefully selected channels to ensure that information reached the appropriate public and at the right time. 03 June 09