The Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) has held a sanitation fair ahead of its 10th-anniversary celebrations later in this year on the Ashaiman Mandela park.

Speaking at the event, Ron Strikker, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, said developing countries must take sanitation issues very serious.

He noted that the Ashaiman Municipality was among some targeted areas which included Tamale and Ho in the country to be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) by the end of 2019.

Mr Striker, further explained that 5000 toilet facilities were to be constructed within the Ashaiman Municipality adding that “2000 have been done and 3000 more to be constructed’.

Anne-Claire Dufey, a representative of the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), in Ghana, said only 16 per cent of households in Ashaiman had descent toilet facilities.

Mrs Claire Dufey added that households in the Municipality must seize the opportunity of the available tailored soft loans to construct toilet facilities.

This, she said, would address the issue of open defecation and also enhance healthy living among residents.

She added that 2019 would be a special year as UNICEF would celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Right of the Child which Ghana was the first country in the world to ratify.

The sanitation fair was organized to among others, promote the construction of household toilets within the Ashaiman Municipality.

The project was funded by the Royal Kingdom of Netherlands with UNICEF as the implementing body through the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).