19 November 2020
The Students and Youth Working on reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT) joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Toilet Day, a day that is celebrated on November 19 every year.
The day was set aside by the United Nations to celebrate toilets and raise awareness on sanitation as the world is working towards the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of Water and Sanitation for all by 2030.
The commemorations come at a time when the world is seized with the COVID-19 pandemic which requires amongst other things availability of running Water, proper Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) to prevent its spread. Not only do we fight the spread of COVID-19 pandemic through WASH, the spread of other deadly infectious diseases such as cholera and typhoid will also be curbed.
The theme for this year’s commemorations is “Sustainable sanitation and climate change”. The theme outlines the role toilets have in fighting climate change since sustainable sanitation systems make productive use of waste to safely boost agriculture and reduce and capture emissions for greener energy amongst others.
SAYWHAT, takes this opportunity today to raise concerns over the absence of public toilets within public spaces across the country. Where public toilets are available, they are either dirty and/or they do not have running water which is appalling.
SAYWHAT calls on Government, in particular, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works to ensure the availability of toilets with running water within public spaces. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene work hand in hand hence the need to ensure that the three components are in existence since the absence of one derails the progress of the other.
We also call on the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development to ensure the availability of running water in the toilets within tertiary institutions.
SAYWHAT calls upon everyone to practice good hygiene always if we are to successfully combat the spread of deadly diseases. Toilets should be left clean all the times for the next user. Let us be guided by the mantra that says; “leave the toilet as you would like to find it” – let’s practice this all the times as we aim at achieving healthy societies.
Happy World Toilet Day!