Unicef: One billion people no access to clean toilets

MANILA, Philippines - One billion people worldwide are still without safe and clean toilets.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said these individuals form part of the 2.5 billion or 36 percent of the seven-billion global population.

“The UN is alarmed and concerned about the slow and insufficient progress in improving access to basic sanitation facilities around the world,” the Unicef said.

Today is World Toilet Day.

The Unicef has urged policy makers and key stakeholders “to take concrete action to deal with this situation.”

“World Toilet Day is a chance to spread the word about the sanitation crisis and what can be done to address it,” Unicef said. “Nov. 19 provides an occasion for serious public commitments to action to accelerate progress towards making ‘sanitation for all’ a reality.”

Based on Unicef’s estimate, 1,600 children die per day worldwide because of diarrhea.

“That’s largely preventable through clean toilets, safe water and good hygiene,” the Unicef said. “Some 25 percent, on the other hand, are affected by intestinal worm.”

Defecating in the open is still widely practiced in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, Unicef said.

In the Philippines, the Unicef had estimated that 26 million Filipinos do not have access to sanitary toilets and 7.4 million defecate in rivers.

The Unicef said having no sanitary toilets has major consequences on health.

“Most pathogens that cause diarrhea share a similar mode of transmission – from the feces of one person to the mouth of another,” Unicef said.  “Eighty-eight (percent) of all under-five deaths from diarrhea diseases are due to a lack of clean water, safe sanitation and good hygiene.”