Introduction

The last taboo

People outside their homes in the village of Ampasika in Madagascar.

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

On returning from a recent photographic trip to Madagascar a colleague explained to me how hard it can be for the communities we work with to talk about sanitation. During an interview, one lady, Narina Martine Fidel, explained how she had a beautiful toilet with brick walls and a solid roof. Yes, we could see it, but only if we rowed a boat across a rice field for 15 minutes.

It was only when she heard that others in the community had explained how they had to face the indignity of defecating in the open and the embarrassment this brought that Narina told the truth. She explained that she did not have a latrine, but she had lied because she was so ashamed of the situation.

WaterAid will soon be working with the community in Ampasika on the outskirts of the capital Antananarivo to help Narina and others install safe latrines, but her story raises a bigger issue.

Communities are not the only ones who are often too embarrassed to talk about toilets. Sanitation is a killer. But it is a silent killer too, as it is simply not discussed. This lack of talk results in a lack of action that is endemic across the world even in this, the UN's International Year of Sanitation.

This is something we are striving to change thanks to your ongoing support. As well as working with communities to promote hygienic sanitation we are working to raise its profile.

From the revellers at Glastonbury who we encouraged to 'Love your loo'
to help others get one too, to the world's decision makers, we are working to change the situation for the 40% of the world's population who don't have a toilet.

Our report Tackling the silent killer - the case for sanitation launched at the G8 summit described how the lack of sanitation is a major contributing factor to poverty
around the world. Yet despite this sanitation was barely even discussed.

The silence has got to stop. There are still four months left of this crucial year. Please help us do all that you can to raise awareness of this issue and help us to lift the lid on the last taboo.

You can find out more about our report here, or see how you can get involved with the global campaign to End Water Poverty.

Barbara Frost
Chief Executive, WaterAid