Press Release

Lack of Toilets Among Leading Causes of Child Deaths, Says UNICEF on World Toilet Day

On World Toilet Day, UNICEF says that significant progress can be made in decreasing the number of people globally who practice open defecation, based on trends over the last five years. A lack of toilets remains one of the leading causes of illness and death among children. UNICEF estimates that some two million children die each year from pneumonia and diarrhea, illnesses that are largely preventable with improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene.

NEW YORK (November 19, 2012) — On World Toilet Day, UNICEF says that significant progress can be made in decreasing the number of people globally who practice open defecation, based on trends over the last five years.

A lack of toilets remains one of the leading causes of illness and death among children. UNICEF estimates that some two million children die each year from pneumonia and diarrhea, illnesses that are largely preventable with improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene.

Community Approaches to Total Sanitation (CATS), now being supported by UNICEF in 50 countries around the world, including crucial ones in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, have already led to more than 39,000 communities, with a total population of more than 24 million people, being declared free of open defecation within the last five years.

UNICEF estimates that with support from governments and other partners, an additional 88 million people now live in communities free of open defecation.

“The beauty of this approach is that solutions are not imposed from the outside,” says Therese Dooley, UNICEF's senior advisor on sanitation. “Communities themselves take the lead and identify their own measures to end open defecation. Only then can it work.”

In South Sudan, which became the world’s newest country last year, five communities have achieved ‘open defecation free’ status already, showing that poverty is not an insurmountable barrier to ending open defecation. The World Bank estimates the poverty rate in the country at 50.9%. While South Sudan does not yet have a ranking on UNDP’s Human Development Index, all indications are that it will be close to the bottom.

In Pakistan, through UNICEF-supported CATS programs, nearly 5,000 villages with a total of 5.8 million people have been declared free of open defecation. Rapid and notable improvements have also been made in Mozambique, Zambia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Ethiopia.

The CATS programs aim to make all communities free of open defecation by focusing on social and behavior change and the use of affordable, appropriate technologies.

The emphasis is on the sustainable use of sanitation facilities rather than the construction of infrastructure, and the approach depends on the engagement of members of the community ranging from individuals, to schools, to traditional leaders. Communities use their own capacities to attain their objectives and take a central role in planning and implementing improved sanitation.

According to a joint UNICEF and World Health Organization report this year, more than 1.1 billion people in the world practice open defecation. The majority of these people are in India (626 million), followed by Indonesia (63 million), Pakistan (40 million), Ethiopia (38 million), and Nigeria (34 million).

“No aid operation in the world can provide toilets for 1.1 billion people,” says Dooley. “They have to do it for themselves—with support. And we've found, in fact, that it is only when they do it for themselves that the changes are achievable and sustainable.”

About UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in 190 countries and territories to save and improve children’s lives, providing health care and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF supports UNICEF's work through fundraising, advocacy, and education in the United States. Together, we are working toward the day when zero children die from preventable causes and every child has a safe and healthy childhood. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org.

For additional information, please contact:
Susannah Masur, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, 646.428.5010, smasur@unicefusa.org
Kiní Schoop, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, 917.415.6508, kschoop@unicefusa.org