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World Toilet Day 2024: Toilets - A Place for Peace

World Toilet Day 2024, on 19 November, is on the theme of ‘Toilets - A Place for Peace’.

Animation of toilet and text: toilets a place for peace

World Toilet Day is an annual United Nations Observance promoted through a worldwide public campaign that encourages action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.

‘Safe toilets for all by 2030’ is one of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6 – but the world is seriously off track.

3.5 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, including 419 million who practise open defecation.

This year, the focus is on the fact that, for billions of people, sanitation is under threat from conflict, climate change, disasters and neglect.

When sanitation services are destroyed, damaged or disrupted, untreated human waste spreads in the environment, unleashing deadly diseases such as cholera.

By creating a barrier between us and our waste, sanitation services are essential for public and environmental health.

The World Toilet Day 2024 campaign calls on governments to ensure that sanitation and water services are resilient, effective, accessible to everyone and shielded from harm.

More investment and better governance of sanitation are critical for a fairer, more peaceful world.

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