World Toilet Day

19 November 2018

For the celebration of World Toilet Day, with the theme: When Nature Calls, the World Health Organization would
like to share the recently published first global guidelines on sanitation and health, to focus governments and
partners on tackling a crisis which causes the deaths of ¾ of a million people a year and deprives many millions
more of the dignity, safety and convenience of a decent toilet.

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/sanitation-waste/sanitation/sanitation-guidelines/en/

The purpose of these guidelines is to promote safe sanitation systems and practices in order to promote health.
They summarize the evidence on the links between sanitation and health, provide evidence-informed
recommendations, and offer guidance for encouraging international, national and local sanitation policies and
actions that protect public health. The guidelines also seek to articulate and support the role of health and other
actors in sanitation policy and programming to help ensure that health risks are identified and managed
effectively. The guidelines also includes the strategies for managing the risks of sanitation systems and how this
approach will contribute to the achievement of relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

According to Dr Tedros, Director General of WHO, the right to water and sanitation is foundational to several
Sustainable Development Goals. After decades of neglect, the importance of access to safe sanitation for
everyone, everywhere, is now rightly recognized as an essential component of universal health coverage. But a
toilet on its own is not sufficient to achieve the SDGs; safe, sustainable and well-managed systems are required.
Globally, billions of people live without access to even the most basic sanitation services. Billions more are exposed
to harmful pathogens through the inadequate management of sanitation systems, causing people to be exposed to
excreta in their communities, in their drinking water, fresh produce and through their recreational water activities.
The scale of need is further compounded by urbanization, climate change, antimicrobial resistance, inequality and
conflict.

In the Philippines, sanitation-related diseases such as diarrhea and intestinal parasitism are still prevalent. By end
of 2015, only 75% of the population have access to improved sanitation and nearly 6% are resorting to open
defecation (JMP, 2015). Engr Bonifacio Magtibay, Technical Officer, WHO-Philippines emphasized that in the era
of Sustainable Development Goals, toilet coverage for all settings should be transformed to safe sanitation
systems (from deposition, containment, conveyance, treatment to disposal or reuse) to make a difference.
Health risks at different points of the sanitation systems should be controlled to avoid occurrence of diseases.

WHO promotes sanitation safety planning as a risk management tool. In collaboration with the Asian Development
Bank, this tool was introduced in the Philippines in 2014. With support from the Australian government (2018-
2022), WHO and the Department of Health will demonstrate an approach for integrating sanitation safety
planning with water safety planning and health care waste management in a health care facility setting to
showcase its maximum benefits on health.

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