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We cannot wait: A report on sanitation and hygiene for women and girls.

Abstract

WORLD TOILET DAY ADVOCACY REPORT

One person in three lacks access to adequate sanitation. The result is widespread death and disease – especially among children – and social marginalisation. Women are particularly vulnerable. Poor sanitation exposes females to the risk of assault, and when schools cannot provide clean, safe toilets girls’ attendance drops.

United Nations Member States this year unanimously adopted a resolution to designate 19 November as World Toilet Day as a means to raise awareness about this very concrete and pressing issue. By highlighting the direct impact of poor sanitation on people throughout the world, World Toilet Day can help generate action to make sanitation for all a global development priority.

We’ve called this paper We Can’t Wait because action is needed now to tackle this crisis, and we must all work together to find a solution. I am championing this type of  joined-up approach and I am eager to see the results we can deliver by taking economically and environmentally sustainable solutions to solve the sanitation crisis at scale.

As we near the end of 2013 there are still 2.5 billion people, or over one third of the world’s population, without access to adequate sanitation. Basic sanitation is now recognised as a fundamental human right, the deprivation of which affects the social, physical and economic well-being of societies world-wide.

The report has been produced by WaterAid, the UN-hosted organisation Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, and Unilever’s leading toilet brand Domestos.

For the full text report in English and French version: follow the link below:

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Type
Report

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