Rural poverty or misplaced priorities?

In an attempt to stem the tide of water and sanitation associated diseases and to provide social and economic infrastructure towards an improvement in the living standards of citizens, water supply to rural areas was free in the 1960s in Ghana. The Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation was established in 1966 to facilitate expansion in water supply and sewerage disposal. While in 1960 only 10.8% of the rural population had access to water supply, by 1977 the coverage had increased to 19.7%. This was because during the 1970s, an accelerated rural development plan was launched during which rural populations under 500 were targeted for special attention with respect to water supply (WASH, 1984).