World Toilet Day is an official United Nations international observance day on 19 November to mark the importance of sanitation and break the taboo around toilets. A staggering 4.2 billion people across the world still live without access to toilets.
The UN commemorates this day to take the stock of actions taken to tackle issues surrounding sanitation. It aims to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, which states that access to water and sanitation for all people must be accomplished by 2030.
This year, the emphasis has been not just on ensuring sanitation access for all, but also making it sustainable. Let’s take an in-depth review of the sanitation issues in the country.
World Toilet Day 2020
World Toilet Day celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 4.2 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation. This year the theme remarks on the importance of “Sustainable sanitation and climate change”.
“Climate change is getting worse. Flood, drought, and rising sea levels are threatening sanitation systems — from toilets to septic tanks to treatment plants. Everyone must have sustainable sanitation, alongside clean water and hand-washing facilities, to help protect and maintain our health security and stop the spread of deadly infectious diseases,” stated the UN in its proposal for this year’s World Toilet Day.
“Safe reuse of human waste helps save water, reduces and captures greenhouse gas emissions for energy production, and can provide agriculture with a reliable source of water and nutrients,” it added.
Pakistan and Sanitation problems
According to a report by UNICEF, Pakistan is the seventh-worst country in terms of access to basic sanitation, as 42 percent of the population remains without access to basic sanitation.
A report submitted to the Sindh High Court four years ago stated that there are no public toilets in at least seven districts of Sindh: Karachi’s West and South districts, Dadu, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Ghotki, Nawabshah, and Mirpur Mathelo.
Moreover, the per capita Water and Sanitation (WASH) allocation in Pakistan from 2018 to 2019 was Rs491. A breakdown shows it was highest in Balochistan at Rs1,167, followed by Sindh at Rs876, then Punjab at Rs318, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) at Rs311 and at Rs244 in the federal capital.
Diseases and deaths
Lack of access to safe sanitation increases the risk of diarrheal diseases, especially for children. These include serious infections such as polio and cholera. In Pakistan, 22.5 percent of infant deaths are due to diarrhoea.
According to the 2018 Demographic Health Survey, 37.6 percent of children in Pakistan are stunted while 23.1 percent are underweight. All these are associated with a lack of safe sanitation facilities for all in the country. Women and girls are the hardest hit by this. They usually wait until after dark to defecate making them vulnerable to harassment and assault.
