World Toilet Day Being Observed on November 19

The United Nations and several other international organizations celebrate World Toilet Day on November 19 every year. The world Toilet Day is officially convened by UN-Water. This year, the day is being observed under the theme- “Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change”

Purpose of the observance

The World Toilet Day is observed to raise awareness on Sanitation among people. Raising awareness becomes important because, as per a report by the United Nations, more than 4.2 billion population live without safely managed sanitation. Further, there are more than 673 million people who still practice open defecation. This poor hygiene practices and poor sanitation have led around 58% of diarrhoea cases, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

World Toilet Day

World Toilet Day (WTD) is an official United Nations international observance day .The day inspire the action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. The day is observed in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. The goal 6 of the SDG is aimed at “Ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.  While target 6.2 of SDF is to “End open defecation and provide access to sanitation and hygiene”.

History

The UN General Assembly had declared this day as an official UN day in the year 2013 after the Singapore resolution. Before that, the World Toilet Day was unofficially established by a Singapore-based NGO- World Toilet Organization, in 2001.

UN-Water

United Nations-Water is an interagency mechanism. It coordinates the efforts of the international organizations that works on water and sanitation. The body was established in the year 2003.

World Toilet Day in India

On the occasion of the World Toilet Day, the Union Minister of Jal Shakti in India will present the “Swachhata Puraskar” under the Swachh Bharat Mission.