ACCESS TO TOILETS, A NEGLECTED PRIORITY
Every year, November 19th is World Toilet Day. After all, access to toilets is a public health issue throughout the world, and one that unfortunately receives little attention from the authorities.
The aim of this special day is to raise awareness by communicating alarming figures… According to UN surveys, over 50% of the world’s population lives without access to safe sanitation. Worse still, 2 million children die every year from illnesses caused by sanitation-related problems, according to the figures of AFA Asso. Today, more than 673 million people are forced to relieve themselves outdoors.
In India, the government launched a nationwide campaign in 2014 called “Swachh Bharat”, otherwise known as “Clean India”. Women in the eastern Jharkhand region of the country have set themselves the challenge of providing for one of their most natural needs: building real toilets at the bottom of their own garden. Before that, they had to go to forests to relieve themselves at night, because it’s a taboo subject. They were then faced with risks such as being bitten by insects or sexually assaulted.
If the project to install toilets on people’s properties has recently become a reality in India, in the land of the rising sun, projects to improve the hygiene and cleanliness of public sanitary facilities have always been a major challenge. One of the latest inventions is a toilet with transparent walls. The concept may sound intriguing, but in reality it’s all about preserving the privacy of users : when a user wants to go to the toilet and locks the door, the cabin – translucent at first glance – becomes opaque.
Sanitation issues vary from country to country, but unfortunately access to toilets worldwide remains a major problem. In a report published by the UN on World Toilet Day, it is noted that ” at the current rate of progress, sanitation for all will not be a reality before the twenty-second century”!
For more information:
World Toilet Day
Glass toilets in Tokyo