Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene November 2018 Vol.13 No.5 | Page 14

World Toilet Day 2018:
When nature calls
The world is not on track to reach Sustainable De-
velopment Goal 6 (SDG 6): to ensure availability and
sustainable management of sanitation and water for
all by 2030. 1
Today, 4.5 billion live without a safe toilet 2 and 892
million people still practise open defecation. 3
has a devastating impact upon public health, living
and working conditions, nutrition, education and eco-
nomic productivity across the world.
SDG 6 aims to ensure that everyone has a safe toilet
and that no-one practises open defecation by 2030.
Failure to achieve this goal risks the entire 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The impact of exposure to human faeces on this scale
1 United Nations (2018) Sustainable Development Goal 6 Synthesis Report 2018 on Water and Sanitation: http://www.unwater.org/un-reports-that-
world-is-off-track-on-water-and-sanitation-goal/
2 ‘Safe toilet’ is used here as shorthand for the WHO/UNICEF term ‘safely managed sanitation’, which means improved sanitation facilities which
are not shared with other households, and the excreta produced is either: treated and disposed in situ; or, stored temporarily and then emptied and
transported to treatment off-site; or, transported through a sewer with wastewater and then treated off-site.
3 Both figures from: WHO/UNICEF (2017): Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG baselines.
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November 2018