Today is World Toilet Day. It’s not a joke.
Around the world, 4.2 billion people – more than twice the global population – live without safely managed sanitation (1).
Access to sanitation is a human right and part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This means that by 2030, open defecation must end, and everyone must have access to toilets, for improved dignity and living conditions.
Building sanitation systems can be expensive and complicated but alternative solutions involving innovative financing systems exist. Political will is essential. In 2018, the World Water Council produced a report and recommendations to help politicians provide safe sanitation to their citizens and guarantee this fundamental right to all those who are still deprived of it.
- Read the 2018 report and recommendations
- More on World Toilet Day
(1) UNICEF (2019): Joint Monitoring Programme 2019 update report: Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene