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KATHMANDU, JANUARY 16
A sanitation campaign in the Lao People's Democratic Republic reveals that reducing open defecation has unexpected benefits across households and communities.
In 2001, the World Toilet Organization declared World Toilet Day, recognizing the critical role of toilets in promoting public health, human dignity, and personal safety. Since then, November 19 has been a global day for inspiring action to achieve SDG 6: ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
In the two decades since the first World Toilet Day, the share of the global population without access to improved sanitationhas fallen from 39% to 14%.
But nearly 700 million people still practice open defecation, and over 2 million deaths per year are caused by unsafe water or inadequate sanitation. These losses are heavily concentrated in rural areas.
Due to their remoteness and poverty, rural households lag behind their urban counterparts in access to hygienic sanitation facilities that prevent contact with human waste, such as flush toilets and septic tanks.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
