November 19 is World Toilet Day

Imagine life without a toilet. No toilets in your home or at work, no public toilets, no toilets anywhere. Imagine the mess. Imagine the disease. It’s hard to imagine life without something we take for granted, but this is the daily reality for 2.6 billion people.

Almost 40% of the world’s population does not have access to adequate sanitation.

That’s 2.6 billion people having to practice open defecation and urinate into rivers, which can lead to waterborne diseases such as acute diarrhea, cholera and dysentery. Others resort to roadsides, buckets, plastic bags and open fields.

The last taboo of talking about toilets has to be eradicated to give the toilet crisis warranted attention. Everyone should have the right to have an access to a toilet any time and anywhere. No one should die from not having a toilet. Governments worldwide should prioritize sanitation for all citizens of the world.

November 19 is World Toilet Day. Celebrate this day together with the rest of the world and share your thoughts to give 2.6 billion people hope to survive.

Some sobering facts

• If an episode of diarrhea lasts less than 14 days, it is acute diarrhea. Acute watery diarrhea causes dehydration and contributes to malnutrition. The death of a child with acute diarrhea is usually attributable to dehydration. Some 2.2 million children under the age of 5 die from diarrhea every year — one child dying every 14 seconds.
• Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection. Of the 60 million people added to the world’s towns and cities every year, most occupy impoverished slums and shanty-towns with no sanitation facilities.
• 88% of diarrhea cases worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene.
• 90% of all deaths caused by diarrheal diseases are of children under 5 years of age, mostly in developing countries.
• At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.
• The majority of illnesses in the world is caused by fecal matter. Almost one-tenth of the global disease burden could be prevented by improving water supply, sanitation, hygiene and management of water resources. Such improvements reduce child mortality and improve health and nutritional status.
• Improved sanitation facilities could reduce diarrhea-related deaths in young children by more than one-third. If hygiene promotion is added, such as teaching proper hand washing, deaths could be reduced by two-thirds. It would also help accelerate economic and social development in countries where inadequate sanitation is a major cause of lost work and school days because of illness.

To learn more, please visit the World Toilet Organization.

About World Toilet Day

In 2001 the World Toilet Organization declared November 19 as World Toilet Day. Today it is celebrated in more than 19 countries with over 51 events being hosted by various water and sanitation advocates.

The World Toilet Organization created World Toilet Day to raise global awareness of the struggle 2.6 billion face every day without access to proper, clean sanitation. WTD also brings to the forefront the health, emotional and psychological consequences the poor endure as a result of inadequate sanitation.