World Toilet Day 2021

World Toilet Day is a United Nations (UN) observance, on November 19, that highlights a serious problem – 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to proper sanitation.

World Toilet Day exists to inform, engage and inspire people to act toward achieving this goal. The UN General Assembly declared World Toilet Day an official UN day in 2013 after Singapore had tabled the resolution. Prior to that, World Toilet Day had been established unofficially by the World Toilet Organization (a Singapore-based NGO) in 2001.

The facility of proper toilets could save the lives of more than 200,000 children in the world, according to the UN. The countries where open defecation is most widely practiced are the same countries with the highest numbers of under-five child deaths, high levels of under-nutrition and poverty, and large wealth disparities. Moreover, over one billion people defecate in the open due to lack of proper toilet facilities.

According to WHO, some 297,000 children – more than 800 every day – under five who die annually from diarrheal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water. These deaths are preventable.

ADRA in Bangladesh is working closely with vulnerable communities to ensure sustainable sanitation through its Community Empowerment Project (CEP) across the country. ADRA distributes ring slabs among the underprivileged community so they can build a safe toilet for their family.

Everyone must have sustainable sanitation, alongside clean water and hand-washing facilities, to help protect and maintain our health security and stop the spread of deadly infectious diseases such as COVID-19, cholera, and typhoid.