Sanitation for all will not materialize until the 22nd century without greater investment by governments, said UN officials on World Toilet Day. SDG 6 calls for clean water and sanitation by 2030.
The campaign for World Toilet Day, led by UN-Water, reports that 700 children die each day as a result of improperly managed sanitation. A total of 3.6 billion people – nearly half the world – live without safe sanitation. Beyond health, the impacts affect education, economy, and the environment. However, every USD1 invested in basic sanitation returns up to USD5 in saved medical costs and increased productivity, and jobs are created along the sanitation service chain. For women and girls in particular, toilets at home, school, and work help them play their full role in society, especially during menstruation and pregnancy, the campaign notes.
Every USD1 invested in basic sanitation returns up to USD5 in saved medical costs and increased productivity.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the right to water and sanitation as a “basic human right,” in his remarks for the Day on 19 November 2021. He called for investment and innovation along the entire “sanitation chain.”
An event to raise awareness of the need for sanitation for all was hosted by the governments of India, Nigeria, and Singapore on 19 November. In a video message, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called for all countries to quadruple the rate of progress, since the current rate will provide sanitation for all only by the 22nd century. Mohammed said that unlike many of the complex challenges we face, poor sanitation is “a problem that can be solved.” Mohammed said the 2021 report on the State of the World’s Sanitation provides a path for progress in the areas of governance, financing, capacity development, data and innovation.
The President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Abdulla Shahid, also addressed the event. He called for prioritizing universal access to toilets, including through dedicated and scaled-up funding for toilets. He also urged governments to enable “practical and context-specific solutions to take off.”
The World Toilet Day campaign – focused on the theme ‘Valuing Toilets’ – notes that as part of a human rights-based approach, governments should allocate funding to include people without access to toilets in planning and decision-making processes. [Campaign webpage]