World Sanitation (Toilet) Day
By Dr Arvind Kumar
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About 2.6 billion people – 40% of world’s population do not have access to adequate sanitation and this will become worse with the fast growing population, particularly in rapidly expanding urban areas. To raise awareness and to help break the taboo subject of toilets and those things associated with it, the World Toilet Organization has declared 19 November to be World Toilet Day (WTD), which is marked and promoted globally. Lack of sanitation is one of the biggest causes of illness and death in the developing world. About 2.2 million children under the age of 5 die annually from diarrhoea. Provision of sanitation is, therefore, important for the prevention of illness, and saves huge costs of medical treatment. Absence of basic sanitation amenities force the people to urinate and defecate into open which exposes them to ridicule, shame, and, for women and girls, the risk of physical attack, marginalisation and stigmatisation. Furthermore, costs of treating water and sanitation related diseases drain national budgets and family finances. According to broad estimates, 638 million in India lack basic sanitation facilities. It’s also a significant health hazard. Globally, about 1.5 million children die each year as a result of a lack of water, sanitation and hygiene, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency. The Sulabh International operates 7,500 toilets across India, nearly every Indian state, and employs 50,000 people. But founder Bindeshwar Pathak said Sulabh’s effort is ‘just like a peanut,’ compared with India’s needs, which he estimates at 1 million public toilets and 120 million household toilets.
