Household Latrine Implementation Dynamics in the Tano North Municipality- Ahafo Region, Ghana

Open defecation continues to be a critical health challenge especially in rural areas of Ghana. While enormous empirical research exists on latrine coverage, little is known about households’ latrine construction and usage behaviours in developing countries like Ghana. Using a cross sectional design, we investigated household latrine implementation dynamics among 289 residents of the Tano North municipality, using a using a semi-structured questionnaire. Prevalence of latrine ownership and utilisation were reported in percentages whiles bivariate logistic regressions were used to identify factors that influence latrine utilisation among households, using STATA version 16® software. Prevalence of latrine ownership and usage among households was 94.8%. Nearly all (99.3%) of household members had a pit latrine with a cover slab. The presence of primary or secondary school students in a house (AOR: 1.84; 95% CI: 0.02–9.88; p=0.04), adequate knowledge level about latrine (AOR: 14.00; 95% CI: 0.03, 61.21; p=0.02), and latrine distance of fewer than 10 meters from the house (AOR: 1.83, 95% CI: 0.00–8.84; p=0.04), were found to influence the use of latrine. While the majority of residents owned and used latrines, household latrine usage in the Tano North Municipality in the Ahafo Region of Ghana was influenced by factors such as the presence of a primary or secondary school student in a given house, appropriate knowledge of latrines, and latrine distance of less than 10 meters from the house. Although prevalence of latrines were high, there is still the need to intensify public health education especially among household heads, using media and community-wide systems to obtain information about the advantages of latrine ownership and use.