November 19th is the date the United Nations (UN) water and sanitation department, UN Water in collaboration with other health non-governmental organizations, sets aside each year since 2013 to celebrate World Toilet Day and to create awareness about the problem and provide solutions to tackle it. The importance of this day was realized when statistics showed nearly 1 in every 3 people in the world do not have access to a toilet, and is worse in countries of Sub-saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. This figure corresponds to nearly 2billion of the world's population.
The theme of this year's event is "We Can't Wait" which means advocates for easy access to clean and safe toilets cannot wait any longer for those that are supposed to provide the facilities,
and therefore it is time to take action now either individually or as a community.
The importance of proper disposal of sewage cannot be overemphasized. The lack of availability and in other cases where they are available, failure to use them is a vicious cycle that cannot be broken down unless people have access to toilets and use them properly. From diseases that cause acute mortality in children such as viral diarrheas and cholera, to those that cause morbidity (poliomyelitis), and malnutrition (helminthiasis), all can be eradicated if proper sewage disposal habits are thoroughly imbibed. Some regions of the world have since forgotten about them by just adopting good toilet habits.
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