10 Reasons Toilets Should Be Carefully Examined

We celebrate World Toilet Day on 19 November. Although we may take our toilets for granted in this world, there are billions of people who don’t. Toilets and everything that is connected to them—also known as sanitation—play an important role in all of our lives. Not only do they allow us to clean up our bodies, but also because it allows us to develop a sustainable and inclusive society. Toilets are essential for healthy development, including for children.

Sanitation is also important – services and facilities for safe disposal of urine and feces include maintaining hygiene through services like garbage collection and wastewater disposal. Good sanitation serves three purposes: to create a healthy environment, to protect natural resources like soil and surface water, and to give dignity, safety, and security to those who defecate and urinate.

The World Sanitation Program, WaterAid, and the World Health Organization (WHO), among others, provide statistics and figures about toilets (or improved sanitation).

1. Today, 2.4 billion people, or about one-third of the world’s population lack access to improved sanitation—facilities that hygienically separate human excreta from human contact—and 1 billion people still practice open defecation.

2. The WHO estimates that sanitation spending has a global economic return of $5.5 per dollar, almost triple the $2 return on water.

3. According to the WHO, diarrheal deaths are most often caused by open defecation. This is when people defecate in open spaces such as fields, bushes, and forests rather than using the toilet. Around 6,000 people die from diarrhea each day, most of them young children.

4. South Asia is home to 1 billion people, and 675 million practice open defecation. This is more than any other part of the world.

5. Chronic diarrhea is the cause of half of all global cases of malnutrition. It can be caused by poor sanitation and clean water. The global stunting crisis, as well as the lack of access to clean water or decent toilets, is having a huge impact on the future of millions upon millions of malnourished children.

6. The risks of infection or other illnesses caused by fecal sludge and wastewater are very high if there is not better sanitation. One gram of feces could contain 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts, and 100 parasite eggs.

7. The best and most cost-effective way to prevent pneumonia and diarrhea is to wash your hands with soap after you use the toilet. The risk of developing diarrheal diseases can be reduced by this simple act, but it must be done regularly. Global research shows that less than one-fifth of people wash their hands correctly at crucial times. Only 19% of people wash their hands after changing a diaper or using the toilet. Two major diseases that can be transmitted in this manner are pneumonia and diarrhea. They kill approximately 1.7 million children each year. For proper handwashing, use soap for 20 seconds or as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice.

8. Target 2 of Sustainable Development Goal number. 6. On sanitation, we must achieve adequate and equitable sanitation for all by 2030. This makes sanitation a top priority for global development.

9. India is home to more than half the population who openly defecate. Indians dump close to 65,000 tonnes of feces each day into the environment. Children under five years old die annually from diarrhea. Poor sanitation results in India losing 6.4% of its GDP, or $53.8 billion annually. These figures are based upon 2006 data, but similar losses could be expected in the future. The government of Prime Minister Modi wants to end open defecation by October 2, 2019, which is the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. This will be accomplished by spending $29 Billion to build 120 million toilets in rural India.

   
   
   

10. What are we doing? ADB’s $1.6 billion sanitation portfolio since 2006 is mainly focused on a large centralized sewer system. We need to explore local solutions and systems as it is impossible to install large-scale sewerage systems in Asia. Since 2013, ADB has partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve Fecal Sludge Management solutions for the Asia Pacific region. Since 2013, ADB has been working in fecal management. The future looks bright. Today, there are investments in non-sewered solutions to sanitation in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and India as well as in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia, and Mongolia. This effort has had a remarkable impact on sanitation issues beyond its nominal investment value.

We must promote awareness and encourage action on World Toilet Day to address the global sanitation crisis. This topic is often overlooked and shrouded by taboos. Today, over 2.4 billion people struggle to keep their health, their children healthy, and their future bright. All this is because they don’t have a toilet. Let’s make this change.