The article in the url below caught my eye. After all, how many of you had November 19 circled on your calendar as World Toilet Day (see also, Strategic CSR – World Toilet Day)?
"There truly is a World Toilet Day — and its goal is not to boost loo sales. Rather the U.N. declared the day in 2013 to promote public health and 'raise awareness about the lack of access to safe sanitation and toilets for billions of people worldwide.'"
As the normally staid people at NPR put it:
"At a time when toilets can heat their seats, spray your butt with water and I dunno probably play songs like 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,' how can so many people be 'toilet insecure'?"
In reality, this is a much bigger problem than is generally understood:
"In fact 3.6 billion people have no potty at home and no easy access to affordable public toilets (which often charge a usage fee). What's more, a joint report by WHO and UNICEF says 673 million people engage in open defecation, delicately defined as 'squatting outdoors.'"
So, in essence, half the world's population face all kinds of health, social, and environmental challenges by not having safe and easy access to a toilet:
"The world's dramatic lack of toilets means that people suffer a loss of privacy and dignity. But there's a huge public health consequence as well. Human feces are rich in pathogens. When fecal matter infiltrates the soil, children who play in the dirt can come in contact with it. And when it enters the water stream, that's a recipe for disease spread."
There are many other details in the article, for your reading pleasure – you will appreciate your toilet more than ever. This is an important issue – one that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (as it was named, at the time) has been working on this for years (see Strategic CSR – Toilets).
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2023
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
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We've got a lot of ways to go: Thoughts on World Toilet Day
By Marc Silver
November 19, 2024
NPR
