Recently Community Action Ghana trustees were visiting a school compound with almost 850 students and 50 staff with no toilet facilities at all. We really felt we needed to help.
So following best practice we surveyed staff, students and parents. On many of the survey replies they said that a toilet block at the school would prevent snake bites. This surprised us until we thought that without a toilet block the only place to go was in the fields surrounding the compound. This is where the snakes live.
We then checked with the clinic and asked about incidents of snake bites. In the previous two years there had been 62 reported bites 42 of which were fatal. So a toilet block on the compound will not only prevent diseases but will reduce the fear of being bitten by snakes.
What snakes?
In this area of the Oti region one finds these particularly venomous snakes as well as numerous others including pythons.
- West African carpet viper
- Black-necked spitting cobra
- Puff adder
- Forest cobra
- Western green mamba
- Rhino-horned viper
- Forest vine snake
Can you guess which are which? Would you like to encounter any of them as you are looking for a place to poo?
Thank to wikimedia commons
There has been an academic study about snake bites in the Oti region and a quote that shows the school desperatly needs to address the problem from it is “The male gender was mostly affected by snakebites, recording 59% of all reported cases. This observation aligns with other reports [8, 12, 13]. This finding indicates that snakebite is a significant public health problem affecting the productive and vulnerable segments of the population, especially those engaged in outdoor activities such as farming, hunting, and schooling. Therefore, prioritizing these vulnerable groups for snakebite prevention education may be essential in reducing overall case incidences.” (our bold)
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