World Toilet Day (WTD) is an official United Nations international observance day on 19 November to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. Worldwide, 4.5 billion people live without "safely managed sanitation". World Toilet Day was established by the World Toilet Organization in 2001. Twelve years later, the UN General Assembly declared World Toilet Day an official UN day in 2013.
UN-Water is the official convener of World Toilet Day. UN-Water maintains the official World Toilet Day website and chooses a special theme for each year. In 2017 the theme was "wastewater." World Toilet Day is marked by educational campaigns and other activities. Events are planned by UN-Water, local civil society organizations and volunteers.
Access to a safe functioning toilet has a positive impact on public health, human dignity, and personal safety, especially for women. Sanitation systems that do not safely treat excreta allow the spread of disease. Serious soil-transmitted diseases and waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery and schistosomiasis can result. About 892 million people around the world practice open defecation.
Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to achieve sanitation for all and end open defecation. World Toilet Day exists to inspire people to take action toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Convener
In 2013, UN-Water and the "Thematic Priority Area (TPA) on Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation" received the mandate to oversee World Toilet Day each year. This mandate is described in the United Nations Resolution A/67/L.75.
UN-Water manages the World Toilet Day website which announces events, activities and volunteer opportunities. In 2017, stories were about "human waste and what we need to do with it," in keeping with the theme of "wastewater."
In 2016, the World Toilet Day campaign and related publications reached millions of people through social media, dedicated websites and other channels. Over 100 events in 40 countries were registered on the World Toilet Day website that year. The website had nearly 75,000 monthly page views in October and November.
UN-Water selects and announces the theme for each year. They mobilize civil society, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, academics, and corporations to adopt that year's theme.They encourage organizations and governments to plan activities and action on sanitation issues, whether globally or locally.
Themed Toilet Paper Video
Examples of activities
Urgent Runs
In the lead-up to World Toilet Day, communities worldwide come together for sanitation-themed "Urgent Runs." More than 63 events were held in 42 countries. Events included fun runs, awareness walks, toilet cleaning programs, carnivals and even motorbike parades. Organizers unite communities around the world to raise awareness of the global sanitation challenge and engage people with sanitation issues in their local communities.
Community groups, private companies, universities and NGOs plan events all over the world. Countries participating include: Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Congo-Brazzaville, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania, United States and Vietnam.
Launch of reports
Some organizations launch toilet-related reports on World Toilet Day. For example:
- WHO, UNICEF and USAID (2015) "Improving Nutrition Outcomes with Better Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Practical Solutions for Policies and Programmes"
- The International Labour Office (ILO) (2016) "WASH@Work: self-training handbook
- The Toilet Board Coalition (2017) "Sanitation Economy"
- Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) (2017) "Guide to strengthening the enabling environment for faecal sludge management"
Public education
Members of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) used the momentum around World Toilet Day in 2017 to update Wikipedia articles on WASH-related topics.
The documentary "Follow the Flush," released 19 November 2017, educates people about what happens beneath the streets of New York City after a person flushes a toilet in Manhattan.
History
On 19 November 2001, the World Toilet Organization (WTO) was founded by Jack Sim, a philantropist from Singapore. He subsequently declared 19 November as World Toilet Day. The WTO began pushing for global recognition for World Toilet Day. In 2007 the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) began to actively support World Toilet Day. The effort was bolstered in 2010 when the human right to water and sanitation was officially declared a human right by the UN.
In 2013, a joint initiative between the Government of Singapore and the World Toilet Organization led to Singapore's first UN resolution, named "Sanitation for All." The resolution calls for collective action to end the world's sanitation crisis. World Toilet Day was declared an official UN day in 2013. That resolution was adopted by 122 countries at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
On World Toilet Day 2015, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged broad action to renew efforts to provide access to adequate sanitation for all. He reminded the audience of the "Call to Action on Sanitation" which was launched in 2013, and the aim to end open defecation by 2025. World Toilet Day was the name, though the UN Sustainable Development Goals call for more than toilets. Goal 6 calls for adequate sanitation, which includes the whole system for assuring that waste is safely processed.
The UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, was honored on World Toilet Day in 2016 in New York for his deep commitment to breaking the sanitation taboo. For example, he had delivered a video message to attendees of a WaterAid and Unilever joint event in the European Parliament on World Toilet Day 2014. In 2016 UN-Water supported "A Toast for Toilets" in New York with the United Nations Mission of Singapore.
Themes
Starting in 2012, World Toilet Day themes or slogans were selected for each year. In 2016 and 2017, the same theme was used for both World Water Day and World Toilet Day.
- 2012 - I give a shit, do you?
- 2013 - Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future
- 2014 - Equality and Dignity.
- 2015 - Toilets and Nutrition
- 2016 - Toilets and Jobs
- 2017 - Wastewater
Background
The Human Right to Water and Sanitation was recognized as a human right by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 28 July 2010. Lack of access to sanitation (toilets) has an impact on public health, dignity, and safety. The spread of many diseases (e.g. soil-transmitted helminthiasis, diarrhea, schistosomiasis) and stunted growth in children is directly related to people being exposed to human feces because toilets are either not available or not used.
Sustainable Development Goal 6
When the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as of 2016, the Secretary-General emphasized the importance of ending open defecation. He said: "By many accounts, sanitation is the most-missed target of the Millennium Development Goals." Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to provide sanitation for all.
Open defecation
892 million people worldwide practice open defecation. Of those, 678 million live in just seven countries. India has the highest number of people (about 525 million) practicing open defecation. Having to defecate in the open is especially difficult for women and girls. Women tend to resort to the cover of darkness to give them more privacy, but then risk being attacked when alone at night.
Sanitation and diarrhea
An analysis of 145 countries estimated that 58% of all cases of diarrhea were caused by unsafe water, poor sanitation and poor hygiene practices, such as inadequate handwashing. This resulted in more than 526,000 children under the age of five dying from diarrhea in 2015 alone (1,400 daily). Providing sanitation has been estimated to lower the odds of children suffering diarrhea by 7-17%, and under-five mortality by 5-20%.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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