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Raising awareness about toilets

A recently installed slab toilet in Pakistan's northern Punjab province. In many parts of rural Pakistan, large numbers of residents do not have access to a functioning latrine David Swanson/IRIN

For this year’s World Toilet Day on 19 November, WaterAid asks you to imagine life without a toilet. This, according to the international charity “is the daily reality for 2.6 billion people - 40 percent of the world's population”.

WaterAid is just one of the several organisations aiming to raise public awareness about toilets and “celebrate the humble, yet vitally important toilet, and to raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis” on World Toilet Day.

According to the World Toilet Organization (WTO), a global non-profit organisation committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions, the theme for 2008 is “we deserve better”.

The campaign encompasses three key areas: trying to make the toilet a desirable object; promoting professionalisation of the sanitation and restroom industry; and recognising that 2.6 billion toilet-less people deserve better.

To get involved, visit WTO or WaterAid.

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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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