World Toilet Day 2020 – November 19

United Nations(UN)’s World Toilet Day is annually celebrated across the globe on 19th November to celebrate Toilets and to raise awareness about the 4.2 billion people across the globe who are living without any access to safely managed sanitation. The First UN’s World Toilet Day was observed on 19th November 2013.

The theme of the 2020 World Toilet Day is “Sustainable sanitation and climate change”.

Every year the UN Water, the UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation sets the theme of the World Toilet Day.

Objective:

The World Toilet Day is about the action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 6 – Water and Sanitation for all by 2030.

Background:

i.The World Toilet Day was first established by the World Toilet Organisation in 2001.

ii.The United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/67/291 on 24th July 2013, and proclaimed the 19th November of every year as the World Toilet Day starting from 2013.

Campaign of UN Water:

The UN Water launched a global public campaign on www.worldtoiletday.org.

Message of the campaign:

Effects of Climate change on sanitation:

i.Climate change results in floods, drought and increasing sea level poses a great threat to the sanitation system from toilets to septic tanks to treatment plants across the globe.

ii.Sustainable sanitation facilities are a basic requirement for all the people to withstand climate change and maintain a healthy community.

Toilets against Climate Change:

i.More than 80% of waste water generated by the communities gets into the ecosystem without being treated or reused. These wastewaters and sludges from toilet contains valuable water, nutrients and energy,

ii.The Sustainable sanitation systems productively uses the waste water to enhance agriculture and reduce the emission for greener energy.

Toilets to protect human health:

i.More than 4.2 people do not have access to proper sanitation facilities, they utilise the unreliable inadequate toiles or practice open defecation.

ii.The untreated human waste in the open environment affects human health and spreads chronic diseases.

Note:

Various organisations, governments, institutions and other stakeholders across the globe support the World Toilet day by organising various activities and events.

Key Points:

i.More than 40% of the global population which is around 3 billion people live without basic hand washing facilities.

ii.Annually around 297000 children under the age of 5 die from diarrhoeal disease caused due to poor hygiene, poor sanitation or unsafe drinking water.

About United Nations Water:
Chairman– Gilbert F. Houngbo
Secretary–  Madhushree Chatterjee
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland