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Breaking Taboos: The UN Celebrates World Toilet Day By Brendan Pastor A person's bodily functions, and the ore

specific anner to relie!e oneself, is a sub"ect that is both parts uni!ersally presu ed for its co onality and apparent dispensability, #hile also so ething considered too taboo to be discussed in public circles$ %et this taboo is e&actly #hat ust be o!erco e in order to create safer, healthier, and societies #ith ade'uate sanitation needs, United Nations e&perts declare$ ore infor ed

Tragically, o!er ($) billion people do not ha!e proper sanitation resources, #hile a further *$* billion people defecate in the open$ According to UN+Water , the agency pro oting dialogue on sanitation and #ater access , this has significant i pacts on health, dignity, security, the en!iron ent, and broader social and econo ic de!elop ent$ -We ha!e to obili.e around so ething absolutely e!ident,/ UN Deputy 0ecretary+1eneral 2an 3liasson e&plained, referring to the one+third of the planet's inhabitants at risk fro unsanitary li!ing conditions$ -4t's unacceptable fro a oral perspecti!e, fro perspecti!e,/ 3liasson added$ a hu an rights perspecti!e, and e!en an econo ic

Not coincidentally, the countries #ith the highest incidents of open defecation directly correlate #ith the countries facing highest infant ortality, under+nutrition, po!erty, and #ealth disparities$ 5ne of the greatest challenges of the (*st century is ensuring sustainable and consistent access to safe drinking #ater$ 6illenniu De!elop ent 1oal 7 pro!ided language on reducing the proportion of the population #ithout sustainable access to safe drinking #ater and basic sanitation by half$ But according to e&perts, progress on this target #ill not be et by the (8*) deadline$ -The sanitation and #ater goal is clearly the ost off+track of all the 6D1s,/ Therese Dooley, a 0enior Ad!iser of sanitation and hygiene for UN4C39, #arned during a conference highlighting #ater cooperation in international institutions$ 5n its o#n, pro!iding for #ater re'uires e&ceptional dedication to large+scale infrastructure de!elop ents, a!ailability of #ater resources, purification and sanitation sche es, and ethods of e'uitable distribution to consu ers , a series of tasks that are challenging in their o#n right for so e of the #orld's poorest countries$ But co pounding these challenges are the health risks associated #ith poor sanitation and open defecation, caused largely by a lack of access to toilets$ The relationship bet#een sanitation, health, and clean #ater is uni!ersally accepted$ 4ndeed, international organi.ations, go!ern ents, and N15s ha!e obili.ed in the past decade to resol!e the issue$ -4 ha!e been shouting, as ha!e other acti!ists, that #e are not talking enough about toilets,/ said :al Curtis, Director of the ;ygiene Centre at the <ondon 0chool of ;ygiene and Tropical 6edicine$

-At this rate, #e are not going to

eet the 6D1s until (87),/ Curtis #arned$

;u anitarian hea!y#eight Bill 1ates, founder and co+chair of the Bill and 6elinda 1ates 9oundation, has dedicated enor ous financial and hu an capital to resol!e the toilet disparity in poor countries$ But the efforts to pro!ide a globally+feasible response that can address the needs of o!er one+third of the planet's people are tricky$ A recent Ne# %ork Ti es op+ed fro 2ason =ass, an en!iron ental engineer and founder of the organi.ation Toilets for >eople, describes the i practicalities of technologically+ad!anced solutions to toilet ad!ance ent$ According to =ass, it all co es do#n to price, and at the o ent, the price+tag is too high for de!eloping countries$ %et the UN 9oundation says clean and safe toilets can reduce the incidence of diarrhea in children by ?@A$ 3ach year, ore than B88,888 children under fi!e die fro diarrhea , ore than one child a inute, the UN says, aking it a leading cause of death in poor countries$ Clean and safe toilets are the best ethod for ending these deaths, officials agree$ Cooperation #ill be a key dri!er of resol!ing the toilet disparity and helping pro ote proper sanitation$ -But you can't do it alone,/ 3liasson says$ -4t re'uires obili.ations on all le!els , go!ern ents, parlia ents, ci!il society, pri!ate sector, and beyond$ Nobody can escape responsibility for dealing #ith this issue$ 4f #e speed up obili.ation on sanitation, then #e speed up the 6D1s$/

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