FLUSHING OUT INEQUALITY

 

Image Credit : Rtr. Krishan Edirisinghe.
Written By : Rtr. Gayathma Weerawanni

 

 

Everyone's poo must be contained, moved, treated, and then disposed or recycled.!

Every year on November 19, World Toilet Day is held. Since 2013, it has been an annual United Nations Observance. World Toilet Day reminds the world that toilets should be celebrated all the while raising awareness of the 3.6 billion people who lack access to safe sanitation. Access to sufficient and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all is a crucial global issue. It is about taking steps to address the global sanitation crisis and achieve SDG 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030

This year's UN theme, "Leaving No One Behind," attempts to raise awareness of how seriously poor toilets could be for people. SDG target 6.2 calls for, achieving “access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.” It is the sole promise to the world that everyone will be having safe toilet facilities and waste water removal methods to their own by 2030.

Sanitation includes avoiding human contact with feces and washing hands with soap. It is one of the most humble virtues that can be observed in a civilized society which often gets neglected and considered insignificant. Sanitation systems aim to protect human health by providing a clean environment that will stop disease transmission, particularly through the fecal-oral route. Lack of access to sanitation has an impact not only on public health but also on human dignity and personal safety. Several sanitation "levels" are being used to compare sanitation service levels within countries or across countries which include open defecation at the bottom and moves upwards with different standards such as "unimproved", "limited", "basic", with the top level marking "safely managed".

Unbelievably, 4.2 billion people are thought to lack access to "safely managed sanitation." According to WHO (World Health Organization), even though globally about 39% of the world's population use toilets and defecate in them, many of these toilets are unhealthy or unsanitary. The lack of healthy, adequate sanitation is a huge global issue, and in this context, leaving no one behind is a powerful and appropriate mantra. According to the World Health Organization, “Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces. The word 'sanitation' also refers to the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection and wastewater disposal."

Adequate sanitation must be combined with good hygiene and clean water in order to maintain excellent health and to foster social and economic growth. Toilets not only increase gender equality but also save lives and progress society as a whole. World Toilet Summit held in Nigeria with the partnership of World Toilet Organization this year, highlights the economic potential provided by high-tech sanitation and the sanitation value chain.

Further, this under-rated but special day calls attention to the underfunding, poor management, or neglect of toilets and the sanitation systems that support them in many parts of the world, with disastrous effects on health, the economy, and the environment, especially in the poorest and most marginalized populations.

World Toilet day 2022, brings to light about the many lives that have been unfortunately lived in rural areas and reminds that everyone's poo must be contained, moved, treated, and then disposed or recycled leaving NO ONE behind.