The world recently observed World Toilet Day – 19 November. It went largely unnoticed in the United States and Western Europe, except as the occasional punch line of a joke. But the point of the day is to shine light on what is literally a matter of life and death for hundreds of millions of people, and a matter of great risk of physical harm to billions of women and girls. Certainly, World Toilet Day is no joke.
In 2017, one person out of three is living in primitive conditions that differ little from those of thousands of years ago.
An estimated 2.3 billion people in the world have no access to a hygienic toilet that disposes of waste safely and without introducing dangerous microbial diseases into the immediate environment. They also have no access to privacy, which is especially dangerous for women and girls. That means that in 2017, one person out of three is living in primitive conditions that differ little from those of thousands of years ago. NPR showcased the difference in toilet standards in different countries for seven families around the world.
The Sheepfold
When my family and I lived in Yemen, the second floor windows of our home overlooked a small sheepfold with cinder block walls and a standard sized open doorway at the edge of a large field. When sheep were penned in, their keepers would put wooden planks across the doorway to prevent their exit. It was amusing to watch the sheep jostle one another and jump around in the pen, and our young children were pleased to watch them. However, over time we became aware of another use for the sheep pen.
The pen was usually vacant, and we realized that it was frequently used as an open latrine throughout the daytime. We would see men boys come in, squat down, conduct their business and then leave, grateful for the bit of privacy offered by the four walls. We were upset to see that take place next to our home, but were told by Yemeni friends that the people using it had no facilities in their homes. They didn’t mean just that there was no running water – there was no toilet, no latrine, not even a pit.
We noted that we never saw any women in the sheepfold, and asked what recourse they had. “They wait until nighttime, and do it in the dark,” came the answer. Again, take a minute to let that sink in, and what the implications are of it, and imagine the full range of biological needs of a woman. Consider also the vulnerability of women in less developed countries with traditional societies, or countries where women’s rights are not respected.
World Toilet Organization
India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, most of sub-Saharan Africa, Indonesia – according to the annual report from WaterAid.org, these are the top areas of the world in which people have no access to basic sanitation. World Toilet Day was first observed in 2001, and is organized by the World Toilet Organization (WTO). According to its website, the group “is a global non-profit committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide.”
WTO was founded by Jack Sim, a Singaporean businessman who achieved early career success in construction, building supplies, and real estate. “Having achieved financial success in his 40s, Jack felt the need to change his direction in life and give back to humanity – he wanted to live his life according to the motto ‘Live a useful life.’”
Diseases connected to poor sanitation kill more children every year than malaria, AIDS, and measles combined.
Sim set about to highlight the human cost of poor sanitation. His initial interest in ensuring access to clean, private toilets on the island of Singapore quickly grew into an international organization, once he realized the extent of the problem. The figures are staggering. Diseases connected to poor sanitation kill more children every year than malaria, AIDS, and measles combined. The lion’s share of the funding from the UN and large multilateral organizations and NGO’s, however, goes toward fighting those high profile diseases.
The main differences between how humans live in the 21st century and how they lived millennia ago center on access to affordable, reliable energy; clean water; adequate food; and basic sanitation that will separate human and animal waste from our water supplies. Americans are disgusted at the sight of a dirty public toilet. As we drive along the interstate this holiday season, we will see signs at gas stations or restaurants advertising that the establishment has clean toilets. As we use them, let us be grateful for our access to them, to soap and water, and to privacy. And take a moment to think of the billions of people who are dying for a clean toilet. No joke.
