Jirapa (U/W), June 13, GNA - The Jirapa-Lambussie District Assembly in the Upper West Region has programmed in its Annual Water and Sanitation plan for the year 2005/2006 to provide 600 household toilets and 20 institutional latrines across the District to promote the health of the people in the communities and in the schools. Within the same period, the Assembly would also spend more than 3.6 billions cedis towards the rehabilitation and expansion of the water supply system at Jirapa while the Ullo and Piina communities would be provided with pipe-borne water supply system. This was contained in all address read behalf of the Acting District Chief Executive, Mrs Winifred Dy-Yakah at the launch of the Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) and the Small Towns Water Supply Systems Project (STWSSP) at Jirapa.

The programme also coincided with the District's launching of the Public Private Partnership for Hand (PPPH) Washing With Soap, which seeks to encourage the people to adopt good personal hygiene. Mrs Dy-Yakah said huge sums of money would be sunk into the provision of the facilities and that beneficiary communities would have to maintain them.

Mrs Dy-Yakah explained that the projects were demand driven, hence the people of the beneficiary communities should be in readiness to contribute five per cent of the project cost and the District Assembly would also support them with five per cent of the total cost of the project.

The Government of Ghana and the International Development Agency (IDA) would fund the remaining 90 per cent of the project cost. Mrs Blandina Bethy Batiir, Upper West Regional Director of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), lamented about the poor environment in a number of the communities in the Region as the people lacked the necessary sanitary facilities. She urged school authorities to ensure that their schools were provided with toilets, urinals, washing basins, soap and towels and also to make sure that the students washed their hands at any time they visited the toilets or urinal.

The people must keep their environment clean and eschew negative practices such as indiscriminate defecation and refuse disposal, which could lead to the outbreak of epidemics. Mrs Batiir stressed the need for teachers to revisit the olden days' practices of inspecting students' finger nails, teeth, hair and uniform so as to promote their health and the development of the communities.

Mrs Batiir also urged Circuit Supervisors as well as Head Teachers and their members on staff to monitor the activities of food venders, who do business with the schools and ensure that they worked in a decent and clean environment to protect the children from contracting diseases.

The Presiding Member of the Jirapa-Lambussie District Assembly, Mr Charles K. Gyang pleaded with the Assembly Members to organise their people to mobilise resources to enable them to benefit from the water and sanitation projects. Mr Gyang advised that communities that should benefit from the facilities should handle and utilise them properly.

In course of the ceremony, the students of the Saint Anthony Catholic Junior Secondary School in the area staged a drama to sensitise the people on the need for them to wash their hands after visiting places of convenience, work places, public gatherings and funeral grounds before eating.