International
Water and Sanitation
World Toilet Day
Toilets. It’s a subject that not many like to talk about but that is all about to change because today is a World Toilet Day!
Did you know that 2.6 billion people, about a third of the world’s population, do not have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet? And that the world is largely off track to meet Millennium Development Goal Seven – to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to basic sanitation?
Over 2 billion sounds like a big number – and we know the Millennium Development Goals are important – but for many of us, it is something that is simply out of our realm of comprehension. However, for many people living in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, this is a daily reality.
Globally, diarrhoea is a leading cause of illness and death with 88% of diarrhoeal deaths due to a lack of access to sanitation facilities compounded by unsafe drinking water and the unavailability of water for hygiene. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation – that’s 1.5 million preventable deaths each year. Not only does diarrhoea kill more children each year than malaria or HIV/AIDS combined, but it causes millions of adults and children to miss work or school, which has enormous social, economic and political consequences. It is estimated that every $1 spent on water and sanitation generates returns of $8 in saved time, increased productivity and reduced health care costs.
For World Toilet Day, don’t be shy; help spread the word about the bathroom habits of the 2.6 billion people globally who lack access to basic sanitation. And, if you’re feeling extra bold, find an event near you to take part in The Big Squat -“a movement for the toilet-less.”
Celebrate Blog Action Day right from your desk
This post is part of our contribution to Change.org’s Blog Action Day 2010, an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers with the goal of sparking discussion and collective action. This year, more than 3,000 bloggers are writing about water, a global issue that affects all of us.
In order to celebrate Blog Action Day to the fullest, we decided to highlight some of the amazing work that our friends in the nonprofit community are doing on the topic of water and sanitation in the developing world.
Although this issue isn’t the prettiest (we’re talking sewage, diarrheal diseases and toilets, here), it’s an important one. Everyone has a right to safe drinking water — yet 884 million people do not have access to clean water and 2.6 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation.
With that being said, here are five things that you can do from your computer to keep water in mind:
1. Watch a short documentary made by award-winning journalists:
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting takes a refreshingly candid look at the sanitation situation in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where almost 4 million people are living without basic access to clean water or toilets. We wrote about their amazing multimedia coverage and short documentaries a while back during World Water Week, but it’s worth taking another look.
2. Download a sweet poster from Blood:Water Mission and stick it on your fridge:
Blood:Water Mission, a grassroots organization founded by rock band Jars of Clay, empowers communities to work together against HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa. Their printable posters are not only beautifully designed, but inspiring and informational. “Two weeks without your coffee, tea, milk or soda can provide people in Africa with safe water in Africa for the rest of their lives,” says the poster pictured above.
3. Grasp the gravity of the issue in less than 15 seconds:
This moving video clip by Water.org depicts a young girl in rural Africa struggling to stand … because she’s got a 44-pound container of water on her back. I guarantee that you’ll feel moved by this video in just the first five seconds.
4. Look at the water. I mean really look at it:
You can’t possibly fathom what “contaminated water” means until you actually look at it. This video from charity: water, a non-profit that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations, depicts a tap that churns out mud. The narrator can hardly believe it. “This is your water?” he asks, “You’ve got to be kidding. You must be.”
5. Make the connection between hygiene and hunger
It isn’t the easiest relationship to understand, but many times, children become malnourished because of problems at home related to sanitation and hygiene. Action Against Hunger has a great Q&A on their website with a staffer on the ground who works with families to improve their health and avoid waterborne diseases.
Water is a huge issue for us here at ONE, and we’re glad that Blog Action Day gives us a another reason to talk about it. Access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation facilities could transform the lives of millions — but knowing how and why is a key part of being a smart and informed advocate for the world’s poorest people.
World Toilet Day
Did you know that today is World Toilet Day? Of course you did. And while this may seem a bit silly at first, it’s worth remembering how many lives are lost due to water and sanitation-related diseases each year—as many as 2 million, in fact.
Here are some other fast facts to keep in mind, as we commemorate World Toilet Day:
- 6 in every 10 Africans lack access to a proper toilet.
- In sub-Saharan Africa, 322 million people lack access to clean water and 463 million people lack access to adequate sanitation.
- Together, unclean water and poor sanitation are a leading cause of child mortality: an estimated 5,000 children die daily from diarrhea, which is spread through poor sanitation and poor hygiene. Universal access to improved sanitation could reduce diarrhea-related morbidity by more than a third.
- Studies have found that about half of girls who drop out of primary school in sub-Saharan Africa do so because of a lack of separate toilets and easy access to safe water.
So have a chuckle if you’d like, but remember to be especially grateful if you’re blessed with proper and clean sanitation today—because many people, unfortunately, are not. You can find more articles about World Toilet Day here, here, and here.
-Chris Scott
Advocating for water in Sweden
John Sauer of Water Advocates sent us his op-ed that was featured in The Local regarding World Water Week.
Finding the toilet in Stockholm
Last week a mix of water and sanitation experts gathered for World Water Weekin Stockholm, Sweden to mull over the world’s biggest public health crisis. The problem is that not enough people paid attention.
Each year over 2 million deaths could be prevented with improvements related to access to safe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene. To put that in perspective, we have it within our grasp to prevent the equivalent deaths of 10 Asian tsunamis or 1,000 Hurricane Katrinas. Yet a major effort—like those that have been launched to address HIV/AIDS and malaria—to tackle the global drinking water and sanitation crisis remains elusive. The scope of this disconnect is baffling; water- and sanitation-related diseases (like relatively-easy-to-prevent diarrhea) kill more children each year than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.
One reason why there hasn’t been a Herculean effort to address this global scourge is that we in the water and sanitation sector are not doing enough to influence how this issue is understood by others. We have not been proactive or coordinated enough to frame the issue to the media and the wider development community in an action-oriented “this-can-be-done” tone.
The 2008 G8 Summit: Outcomes for Africa
African development was again the subject of G8 discussions as world leaders gathered in Toyako, Hokkaido in northern Japan from July 7-9 for the 2008 G8 Summit. While the G8 was confronted with multiple global challenges, including climate change and a weakening global economy, the 2008 Hokkaido Summit marked an important “mid point” moment in the fight against poverty. The Hokkaido Summit came at the critical halfway point to both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the G8 Gleneagles promises to Africa. The G8 are dangerously behind on their landmark commitments to the region, having delivered only $3 billion of the promised $25 billion in additional assistance to Africa by 2010, according to the 2008 DATA Report.
After difficult negotiations, the G8 summit yielded small gains for the poorest. The bulk of G8 agreements on development and Africa and food security reiterated previous pledges rather than outlining new measures to get the group back on track. The G8 did announce plans for a new effort to tackle the global food crisis, though more details are needed to ensure its effectiveness and delivery. They highlighted the UN High-level meeting on the MDGs in September as an important opportunity to review progress and identify actions needed to overcome remaining challenges.
At a time when G8 credibility is at risk due to slow progress in delivering on commitments, there was a strong call for greater accountability in the G8 Communique. The G8 agreed to track progress against previous commitments in health, education, water and agriculture, as well as its compliance with anti-corruption measures.
Overall, the US, UK and Germany provided strong leadership in negotiations and have significantly increased their funding for Africa in recent years.
After the jump, the following brief overview of outcomes for Africa from the 2008 G8 Summit.
-Ben Hubbard
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Reporting From the World Water Forum
ONE has partners on the ground in Turkey for the 5th World Water Forum. Our partners will be providing guest blog posts throughout the week to keep us updated on the meeting’s proceedings. Stay tuned for more in this series!
As I was quoted in the Associated Press the other day,“In America, diarrhea is bad takeout, in Chad, it’s the difference between life and death.”
I’m here at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul to help coordinate a journalist workshop on the health aspects of water, sanitation and hygiene. Journalists have come from as far away as Indonesia, Laos and Peru to learn about this massive, but surmountable, challenge.
We want to bring attention to this under-reported issue, as more children die of diarrhea and other water and sanitation related diseases than die of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Meanwhile, 80% of research and development funding for diseases that disproportionately affect the poor is spent on these “big three” diseases. We aim to point out this disparity, not to take away funding from the more well-known diseases, but to see that more resources go to solving the water and sanitation crisis.
What is also unique about preventing and treating diarrhea is that affordable solutions are available now. Ceramic water filters, rope pumps, and ecosan toilets are all effective and sustainable solutions.
Sessions this week at the World Water Forum are going to focus on vast array of topics, such as new technologies, entrepreneurship and child health. The issue of poor water and sanitation in schools will also be discussed by UNICEF. An astounding 50% of schools in the developing world do not have access to water and sanitation.
PATH, WSSCC (Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council), and Water Advocates are a few of the organizers of the journalist forum. We hope that the workshop and forum will increase attention on the health aspects of the water and sanitation crisis. With 5,000 people dying each day due to dirty water, and poor sanitation and hygiene, this cannot wait.
-John Sauer, Water Advocates
Sanitizing Water, Not Facts.
Yesterday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced 2008 the “Year of Sanitation” and urged the world to increase investment in providing clean water and sanitation throughout the world.
From a Tuesday Reuters article:
“Investing approximately $10 billion per year can halve the proportion of people without basic sanitation by 2015,” [the U.N. statement] said.
The U.N.’s drive for better sanitation will involve regional conferences and public campaigns to raise awareness and implement projects to improve sanitation in developing countries through public and private partnerships.
UK-based charity WaterAid said the absence of clean toilet facilities, access to safe water and efficient sanitation was directly related to the spread of diseases that killed 1.8 million children a year.
It estimated the economic cost of not investing in sanitation and clean water at $38 million a year resulting from infant deaths, lost work days and school absences due to disease.”
Read the full article here.
-Virginia Simmons
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The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
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TAGS: Millennium Development Goals, Partners, Water and Sanitation