United Nations holiday on 19 November
World Toilet Day
|
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Logo of World Toilet Day
|
Observed by
| worldwide
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Date
| 19 November
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Frequency
| annual
|
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First time
| 19 November 2001 (unofficially) and 19 November 2012 (as an official
UN
Day)
|
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Related to
| UN-Water
(convener),
World Toilet Organization
(initiator)
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World Toilet Day
(
WTD
) is an official
United Nations
international observance day
on 19 November to inspire action to tackle the global
sanitation
crisis.
[1]
[2]
Worldwide, 4.2 billion people live without "
safely managed sanitation
" and around 673 million people practice
open defecation
.
[3]
: 74
Sustainable Development Goal 6
aims to "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all".
[4]
In particular, target 6.2 is to "End open defecation and provide access to sanitation and hygiene". When the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020 was published,
United Nations Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres
said, "Today, Sustainable Development Goal 6 is badly off track" and it "is hindering progress on the 2030 Agenda, the realization of human rights and the achievement of peace and security around the world".
[5]
World Toilet Day exists to inform, engage and inspire people to take action toward achieving this goal. The
UN General Assembly
declared World Toilet Day an official UN day in 2013, after Singapore had tabled the resolution (its first resolution before the UN's General Assembly of 193 member states).
[6]
[7]
Prior to that, World Toilet Day had been established unofficially by the
World Toilet Organization
(a Singapore-based
NGO
) in 2001.
[8]
UN-Water
is the official convener of World Toilet Day. UN-Water maintains the official World Toilet Day website and chooses a special theme for each year. In 2020 the theme was "
Sustainable sanitation
and
climate change
".
[9]
In 2019 the theme was 'Leaving no one behind', which is the central theme of the
Sustainable Development Goals
. Themes in previous years include
nature-based solutions
,
wastewater
, toilets and jobs, and toilets and
nutrition
.
[10]
[11]
[12]
World Toilet Day is marked by communications campaigns and other activities. Events are planned by
UN entities
, international organizations, local
civil society organizations
and volunteers to
raise awareness
and inspire action.
Toilets
are important because access to a safe functioning toilet has a positive impact on
public health
,
human dignity
, and personal safety, especially for females.
[13]
Sanitation systems that do not safely treat excreta (feces) allow the spread of disease.
[3]
Serious
soil-transmitted diseases
and
waterborne diseases
such as
cholera
,
diarrhea
,
typhoid
,
dysentery
and
schistosomiasis
can result.
Convener
[
edit
]
In 2013,
UN-Water
and the "Thematic Priority Area (TPA) on Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation" received the mandate to oversee World Toilet Day each year. This mandate is described in the United Nations Resolution A/67/L.75.
[14]
In consultation with the UN-Water World Toilet Day Task Force, made up of UN-Water member organizations, UN-Water selects the theme based on that year's
World Water Development Report
and develops content for World Toilet Day communications campaigns.
[15]
UN-Water manages the World Toilet Day website which promotes key issues and stories, provides communications and campaigns resources, and announces events and opportunities to participate.
[16]
The overall World Toilet Day campaign mobilizes civil society, think tanks,
non-governmental organizations
, academics, corporations and the general public to participate in the associated social media and communications campaigns.
[17]
Ultimately, the aim is to encourage organizations and governments to plan activities and action on
sanitation
issues to make progress on
Sustainable Development Goal 6
.
[16]
Annual themes
[
edit
]
Starting in 2012, World Toilet Day themes were selected for each year and form the basis of the related communications campaigns. Since 2016, the same overall annual theme has been used for both World Toilet Day and
World Water Day
, based on the
World Water Development Report
.
Examples of activities and events
[
edit
]
Launch of reports
[
edit
]
Some organizations launch
toilet
-related (or sanitation-related) reports on World Toilet Day. For example:
Events
[
edit
]
- 2019: Planned events for World Toilet Day 2019 include for example a workshop in the USA entitled "Manure Management ? What Poop Can Teach Youth!", art installations in Ireland under the theme "Think Before You Flush", and a "Toilets for all Campaign in Rural areas" in Madhya Pradesh, India.
[30]
[31]
[32]
- 2018: Events for World Toilet Day in 2018 included diverse activities such as a '
hackathon
' in Ghana to promote digital solutions,
[33]
a seminar hosted by
Engineers without Borders
in Denmark,
[34]
a screening and discussion of the
Bollywood
movie
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha
(in English ?
Toilet: A Love Story
) in Canada,
[35]
and a school drawing competition in India.
[36]
[17]
- 2017: Members of the
Sustainable Sanitation Alliance
(SuSanA) used the momentum around World Toilet Day in 2017 to update
Wikipedia
articles on
WASH
-related topics.
[37]
This contributed to public education about the sanitation crisis.
[38]
The documentary "Follow the Flush," released 19 November 2017, educated people about what happens beneath the streets of
New York City
after a person flushes a toilet in Manhattan.
[39]
In the lead-up to World Toilet Day 2017, communities worldwide came together for sanitation-themed "Urgent Runs". More than 63 events were held in 42 countries. Events included fun runs, awareness walks, toilet cleaning programs, carnivals and even motorbike parades.
[40]
Countries participating include: Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Congo-Brazzaville, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, India,
[41]
Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania, United States and Vietnam.
[42]
[40]
Impacts
[
edit
]
Social media impacts
[
edit
]
The World Toilet Day campaign and related publications reach millions of people through
social media
, dedicated websites and other channels.
[43]
: 21
Over 100 events in 40 countries were registered on the World Toilet Day website in both 2016 and in 2017.
[43]
: 23
[44]
: 17
In 2017, the hashtag #WorldToiletDay had a maximum potential reach of over 750 million people on social media.
[44]
: 17
In 2018, the maximum potential reach increased by 15%,compared to 2017; the online activity and authors also increased by 12% and 22% compared to 2017, respectively.
[45]
: 32
History
[
edit
]
On 19 November 2001, the
NGO
World Toilet Organization
(WTO) was founded by
Jack Sim
, a
philanthropist
from
Singapore
. He subsequently declared 19 November as World Toilet Day.
[46]
The name "World Toilet Day" and not "World Sanitation Day" was chosen for ease of public messaging, even though toilets are only the first stage of sanitation systems.
[47]
World Toilet Day events and public awareness campaigns increase public awareness of the broader sanitation systems that include
wastewater treatment
,
fecal sludge management
,
municipal solid waste
management,
stormwater
management,
hygiene
, and
handwashing
. Also, the UN
Sustainable Development Goals
call for more than just toilets.
Goal 6
calls for adequate sanitation, which includes the whole system for assuring that waste is safely processed.
[4]
The WTO began pushing for global recognition for World Toilet Day and, in 2007, the
Sustainable Sanitation Alliance
(SuSanA) began to actively support World Toilet Day, too.
[48]
Their efforts to raise attention for the sanitation crisis were bolstered in 2010 when the
human right to water and sanitation
was officially declared a
human right
by the UN.
[2]
In 2013, a joint initiative between the
Government of Singapore
and the World Toilet Organization led to Singapore's first ever UN resolution, named "Sanitation for All".
[7]
The resolution calls for collective action to end the world's sanitation crisis. World Toilet Day was declared an official UN day in 2013. That resolution was adopted by 122 countries at the 67th session of the
UN General Assembly
in New York.
[49]
The
Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) replaced the
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in 2016. On World Toilet Day on 19 November 2015, United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
urged broad action to renew efforts to provide access to adequate sanitation for all. He reminded everyone of the "Call to Action on Sanitation" which was launched in 2013, and the aim to end
open defecation
by 2025.
[50]
He also said: "By many accounts, sanitation is the most-missed target of the Millennium Development Goals."
[50]
The UN Deputy Secretary-General,
Jan Eliasson
, was honored on World Toilet Day in 2016 in New York for his deep commitment to breaking the sanitation
taboo
.
[43]
: 23
For example, he had delivered a video message to attendees of a
WaterAid
and
Unilever
joint event in the
European Parliament
on World Toilet Day 2014.
[51]
In 2016, UN-Water supported "A Toast for Toilets" in New York with the United Nations Mission of Singapore.
[43]
: 23
Background
[
edit
]
Worldwide, 4.2 billion people live without "
safely managed sanitation
" and around 673 million people worldwide practice
open defecation
.
[3]
: 74
Having to urinate in the open can also be difficult for women and girls. Females tend to resort to the cover of darkness to give them more privacy, but then risk being attacked when alone at night.
[13]
[52]
It has been estimated that 58% of all cases of
diarrhea
worldwide in 2015 were caused by unsafe water, poor sanitation and poor hygiene practices, such as inadequate
handwashing
.
[53]
This resulted in half a million children under the age of five dying from diarrhea per year.
[54]
Providing sanitation has been estimated to lower the odds of children suffering diarrhea by 7?17%, and under-five mortality by 5?20%.
[55]
The
Human Right to Water and Sanitation
was recognized as a
human right
by the
United Nations (UN) General Assembly
on 28 July 2010. Lack of access to
sanitation
(toilets) has an impact on
public health
,
dignity
, and safety.
[13]
The spread of many diseases (e.g.
soil-transmitted helminthiasis
,
diarrhea
,
schistosomiasis
) and
stunted growth
in children is directly related to people being exposed to
human feces
because toilets are either not available or not used.
Sustainable Development Goal 6
aims to provide sanitation for all.
[3]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
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.
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.
Archived
from the original on 15 November 2017
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2017
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a
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e
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2017
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b
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- ^
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a
b
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a
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.
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.
- ^
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"World Toilet Day. Yuck!"
.
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.
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. Retrieved
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2015
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- ^
UN-Water (2018)
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- ^
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.
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- ^
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.
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Archived
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- ^
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Archived
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.
- ^
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. UNICEF.
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Kohlitz, J. and Iyer, R. (2021) '
Rural Sanitation and Climate Change: Putting Ideas into Practice
'
Frontiers of Sanitation: Innovations and Insights
17, Brighton IDS, DOI: 10.19088/SLH.2021.002.
- ^
Introducing the Sanitation Economy
(PDF)
. Toilet Board Coalition. 2017.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 31 July 2018
. Retrieved
14 November
2017
.
- ^
"Guide to strengthening the enabling environment for faecal sludge management"
.
Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor
. 17 November 2017.
Archived
from the original on 13 May 2019
. Retrieved
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- ^
WASH@Work: a Self-Training Handbook
(PDF)
. Geneva: International Labour Office. 2016.
ISBN
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.
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from the original on 15 November 2017
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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(PDF)
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.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 17 August 2017
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
World Toilet Day ? Events
.
Archived
from the original on 28 October 2019
. Retrieved
11 November
2019
.
- ^
"Think Before You Flush"
.
World Toilet Day ? Events
.
Archived
from the original on 28 October 2019
. Retrieved
11 November
2019
.
- ^
"Toilets for all Campaign in Rural areas"
.
World Toilet Day ? Events
.
Archived
from the original on 28 October 2019
. Retrieved
11 November
2019
.
- ^
"World Toilet Day Hackathon"
.
UN Water
.
Archived
from the original on 14 November 2018
. Retrieved
14 November
2018
.
- ^
"Open seminar by Engineers without borders"
.
UN Water
.
Archived
from the original on 14 November 2018
. Retrieved
14 November
2018
.
- ^
"Film screening Toilet: a love story"
.
UN Water
.
Archived
from the original on 14 November 2018
. Retrieved
14 November
2018
.
- ^
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.
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.
Archived
from the original on 14 November 2018
. Retrieved
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2018
.
- ^
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.
World Toilet Day (UN Water)
.
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from the original on 8 November 2017
. Retrieved
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2017
.
- ^
"Join the SuSanA Sanitation Wikipedia project"
.
Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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. Retrieved
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2017
.
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a
b
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.
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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- ^
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.
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External links
[
edit
]
|
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Equipment
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Types
| |
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Cultural and
policy aspects
| |
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Jobs and activities
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Urine-related aspects
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Feces-related aspects
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Places
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Historical terms
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See also
| |
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