World Toilet Day

"WTD" redirects here. For other uses, see WTD (disambiguation).

World Toilet Day
Logo of World Toilet Day
Observed byworldwide
Date19 November
Frequencyannual
First time19 November 2001 (unofficially) and 19 November 2012 (as an official UN Day)
Related toUN-Water (convener), World Toilet Organization (initiator)

World Toilet Day (WTD) is an official United Nations international observance day on 19 November to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.[1][2] Worldwide, 4.2 billion people live without "safely managed sanitation" and around 673 million people practice open defecation.[3]: 74  Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all".[4] In particular, target 6.2 is to "End open defecation and provide access to sanitation and hygiene". When the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020 was published, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, "Today, Sustainable Development Goal 6 is badly off track" and it "is hindering progress on the 2030 Agenda, the realization of human rights and the achievement of peace and security around the world".[5]

World Toilet Day exists to inform, engage and inspire people to take action toward achieving this goal. The UN General Assembly declared World Toilet Day an official UN day in 2013, after Singapore had tabled the resolution (its first resolution before the UN's General Assembly of 193 member states).[6][7] Prior to that, World Toilet Day had been established unofficially by the World Toilet Organization (a Singapore-based NGO) in 2001.[8]

UN-Water is the official convener of World Toilet Day. UN-Water maintains the official World Toilet Day website and chooses a special theme for each year. In 2020 the theme was "Sustainable sanitation and climate change".[9] In 2019 the theme was 'Leaving no one behind', which is the central theme of the Sustainable Development Goals. Themes in previous years include nature-based solutions, wastewater, toilets and jobs, and toilets and nutrition.[10][11][12] World Toilet Day is marked by communications campaigns and other activities. Events are planned by UN entities, international organizations, local civil society organizations and volunteers to raise awareness and inspire action.

Toilets are important because access to a safe functioning toilet has a positive impact on public health, human dignity, and personal safety, especially for females.[13] Sanitation systems that do not safely treat excreta (feces) allow the spread of disease.[3] Serious soil-transmitted diseases and waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery and schistosomiasis can result.

  1. ^ "What is World Toilet Day?". World Toilet Day. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  2. ^ "Call to action on UN website" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  3. ^ a b WHO and UNICEF (2019) Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000–2017: Special focus on inequalities Archived 25 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Geneva, Switzerland
  4. ^ "Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all". United Nations. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  5. ^ "United Nations launches framework to speed up progress on water and sanitation goal". 11 July 2020. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  6. ^ "World Toilet Day 19 November – Background". United Nations. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  7. ^ Chan, Robin (24 July 2013). "Singapore's first UN resolution adopted; now, every Nov 19 is World Toilet Day". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  8. ^ "20 year anniversary of the World Toilet Organization". World Toilet Day. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "World Toilet Day Website – About (2015)". Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference autogenerated3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).