The goal of the Year is to raise awareness and accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goal target to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015. The International Year of Sanitation was established by the UN General Assembly.

Secretary General’s Message

With more than 2.6 billion people – 40 per cent of the world’s population – lacking access to toilets and other sanitation facilities, the head of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) has urged governments to adopt low-cost technology to ensure adequate sanitation for all.

While the world has made significant progress in improving people’s access to safe water, access to improved sanitation “lags far behind,” UN-Habitat’s Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka said in a message to the World Toilet Summit, which opened today in New Delhi, India.