Out of Order - The State of the World’s Toilets 2017

WaterAid recently (Nov 2017) has produced a very absorbing and stimulating short (28pp) report, titled: Out of Order - The State of the World’s Toilets 2017. Typically, when a report has a title that starts with “The State of the . . .,” it is assumed that it would a large report. But, this is a short interesting report.

Link: www.wateraid.org/uk/publications/out-of-...-worlds-toilets-2017

The starting para is captivating. It says:

“It is easy to take a toilet for granted – lock the door, do your business, flush when finished, and forget all about it. But for 2.3 billion people worldwide – almost one in three – such a normal part of daily life is out of reach.”

How true! Come to think of it. We use toilets a number of times a day, and just take it for granted.

Stressing on the importance of decent toilets and clean water, the report says: “A lack of decent toilets and clean water causes diarrhoeal diseases that, on average, claim the lives of almost 800 children every day – one every two minutes.”

Was the term “basic sanitation” coined by Unicef and WHO (JPM)? The report says so.

The report gives forceful facts. It says:

Today, almost one in three women and girls do not have a decent toilet of their own.

39% have access to a ‘safely managed’ sanitation service. This means 2.9 billion people use a hygienic household toilet where human waste is treated and safely disposed of.

29% have access to ‘basic’ sanitation. This means 2.2 billion people have a hygienic household toilet, such as a pour-flush latrine, but the waste ends up flowing into rivers or is emptied untreated in the environment putting communities at risk of disease.

8% have access to ‘limited’ sanitation. This means 600 million people have a toilet that is similar to a basic service, but shared between several households.

12% use an ‘unimproved’ toilet. This means 881 million people use a toilet that does not hygienically separate human waste from human contact, such as a latrine over an open pit or water.

12% practice ‘open defecation’. This means 892 million people relieve themselves in open fields, near railway tracks, or in secluded areas.

The WaterAid report, though short, is full of interesting facts. It constitutes a very useful, handy, handbook.

F H Mughal