Over 60 per cent of Africans lack access to a proper toilet, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ahead of World Water Day – observed on 22 March – whose 2008 theme is “Sanitation Matters.”

The Day aims to raise awareness to the plight of 2.6 billion people worldwide who live without toilets in their homes and are therefore vulnerable to numerous health risks.

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.

STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 (IPS) – There are more than 2.6 billion people, roughly 42 percent of the world’s population, waiting in line for toilets that just do not exist.

That’s a reality, says the United Nations, which will launch the “International Year of Sanitation”, come November.

“No private toilets, no public toilets, no toilets anywhere,” chimes in the London-based non-governmental organisation End Water Poverty, following a survey of some of the world’s poorest nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.