We face a global sanitation crisis
According to the CDC, in 2021, an estimated 4.2 billion people do not have access to adequately managed sanitation facilities. This contributes to poor health conditions that greatly increase the risk of disease and malnutrition, especially in women and children. Each day, more than 800 children die of diarrhoea related to unsafe water, sanitation, and poor hygiene.
World Toilet Day, designated by the United Nations in July 2013, aims to raise awareness of sanitation and hygiene issues worldwide. Poor sanitation and hygiene refer to lack of access to safe water, toilets, and showers.
Inadequate sanitation systems spread human waste into rivers, lakes, and soil, contaminating the water resources. The scale of the world’s human waste problem is vast, impacting human health, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, and even climate change. In developing countries, where basic sanitation systems and waste treatment facilities are lacking, access to safe sanitation facilities is an important first step. Without these services, communities may be at risk of harmful bacteria and diseases.
Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 (SDG 6.2) is the world’s promise to make sure everyone has a safe toilet by 2030. This means that everyone has access to a toilet connected to a sanitation system that efficiently disposes and treats human waste. Solving this problem requires working with communities to develop solutions that are right for them, giving them access to adequate sanitation and adapting aging sewer systems to a rapidly changing world. The safe management of sanitary facilities protects groundwater from being polluted by human waste.
The 2030 Agenda calls on us to renew our efforts in providing access to adequate sanitation worldwide. We must continue to educate and protect communities at risk, and to change cultural perceptions and long-standing practices that hinder the quest for dignity. – Antonio Guterres Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Every year on November 19, people around the world are acting and supporting the fundamental human right to access safe drinking water and sanitation. This World Toilet Day let’s make the invisible visible.
Call to Action: Let’s Get Toilet Twinning!
Soroptimist clubs around the world are partnering with their towns and cities to become ‘Toilet-Twinned’ towns. Toilet Twinning raises money to provide adequate toilets, clean water, and sanitation education in some of the world’s poorest communities, often in unstable countries.
By donating £60 to twin your toilet, you help fund a project in a community that will enable families to build a basic toilet, have access to clean water and learn about hygiene.
Keji Moses
SI Canterbury