World Toilet Day 2007 round-up

The positive impacts of safe sanitation on health and dignity are far reaching.

Credit: WaterAid / Juthika Howlader

World Toilet Day 2007 was celebrated on 19 November 2007.

The day was established to celebrate the health and economic benefits that good sanitation produces, and to raise awareness of the fact that 2.6 billion people, 40% of the world's population, still do not have somewhere safe to go to the toilet.

With the launch of 2008 as the United Nations International Year of Sanitation, this year's World Toilet Day had added gravitas, as WaterAid and campaigning partner End Water Poverty stepped up the international effort to bring the sanitation crisis to greater public attention throughout the countries where we work:

Mali

The sanitation phase of the End Water Poverty campaign was launched with an event attended by more than 900 people, including Amadou Toumani Toure, President of the Republic of Mali, and WaterAid's Chief Executive, Barbara Frost. The President said he would ensure that the National Sanitation Policy Plan would be fully funded.

Activities included a site visit to the 'fully sanitised' area of Beseyakin and a music performance from Mali music star Salif Keita.

India

In India, WaterAid celebrated the day with a rally, meetings with stakeholders (including state ministers), and media coverage in the Hindustan Times. In addition, an article explaining why India still faces a daunting sanitation challenge, written by WaterAid's Country Representative Depinder Kapur, was published.

Read What is ailing sanitation sector in India? on the Hindustan Times website  

Ethiopia

A World Toilet Day message was broadcast on Ethiopian television and radio to remind people about the seriousness of sanitation-related problems and share the importance of toilets.

Bangladesh

An article was published in The Daily Star while staff also met to discuss learning from the recent World Toilet Conference in Delhi.

Read Challenges in our sanitation sector on The Daily Star website

Nigeria

Celebrations began a week early, with an advocacy visit to the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Water Resources. Staff also demonstrated the success of the 'community led total sanitation' approach with a 15 minute documentary highlighting recent achievements.
 
Other activities included an appearance on a TV show about sanitation and a lobbying visit to the Senate Committee on Health.

Burkina Faso

As in Nigeria, the celebrations started early, with a week long fact-finding mission. This involved a group of 30 journalists, NGO representatives, and government officials visiting various water and sanitation projects.

The day itself was celebrated with the slogan "Toilets for all, toilets for health, hygiene, comfort and dignity". 

UK

A series of films, Pooing in Public, were released on video-sharing website YouTube. The films capture WaterAid campaigners simulating open defecation to highlight how people in developed countries take for granted the availability of hygienic sanitation. They have since been viewed over 7,000 times.

Watch the Pooing in Public films

WaterAid released its updated State of the World's Toilets report  and there was coverage of sanitation issues in The Guardian.

Download the full The State of the World's Toilets report ( PDF 491Kb)

Read Larry Elliott's article Where death by water is part of daily life on The Guardian website   

An animated film, The Stink Goes On, was released by End Water Poverty to encourage supporters to sign their latest campaign action, calling on the G8 leaders to address the global sanitation crisis at their 2008 meeting in Japan.

Watch The Stink Goes On animation

Overall, World Toilet Day 2007 events laid the foundations for effective campaigning throughout the 2008 UN International Year of Sanitation.