World Toilet Day Focuses On Goal Of Ending Open Defecation
DW: World Toilet Day draws attention to the global sanitation crisis
“…According to the United Nations, 4.2 billion people live without safe sanitation and 893 million people do their business outdoors: this is a full-blown global sanitation crisis, says the U.N. Without proper facilities, diseases spread more easily and drinking water can become polluted, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. To highlight the problem, the United Nations declared November 19 World Toilet Day…” (Baumann, 11/19).
The Economist: World Toilet Day this week is not a joke, but deadly serious
“…[O]ne of the U.N.’s ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) adopted by the world’s leaders in 2015 reads: ‘By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.’ An ‘interim’ target brings forward to 2025 the date for ending open defecation…” (11/17).
Additional coverage of issues related to World Toilet Day is available from BBC, Scientific American, and NPR.
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