Sanitation crisis

At some point in their lives, those who call this country home would have had to go through the experience of being outside when nature calls in the full knowledge that there are few if any public toilets nearby. While most men would still be able to make do in such a scenario, for women these circumstances can be truly harrowing. And while moments like this are simply awkward or even humorous for those of us lucky to have homes and access to proper sanitation, this is not the case for the estimated 79 million Pakistanis who do not have access to a proper toilet, with an estimated 25 million Pakistanis still compelled to practice open defecation today. World Toilet Day, held annually on November 19, serves as a reminder of the billions living throughout the world without access to proper sanitation and the need for rapid change if countries like Pakistan are to meet the sanitation component of Sustainable Development Goal 6: safe toilets and water for all by 2030. According to the UN, around 3.5 billion people across the world live without access to safe toilets and 419 million people still practice open defecation. That around 6.0 per cent of the latter reside in Pakistan shows that we are one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to sanitation. This is not just a convenience issue. The lack of access to toilets, safe water and sanitation helps spread diseases that kill 1000 children under the age of five every day, according to the UN.

In Pakistan, 53,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoea caused by poor water and sanitation with around 70 per cent of all households in the country drinking contaminated water, according to Unicef. Diarrhoea is also linked to stunting, which currently affects an estimated 44 per cent of our children. Aside from death and disease, the lack of access to sanitation, particularly safe and clean public toilets, can become a barrier to education and employment. This is especially the case for women and girls, with schools and workplaces often lacking access to water, sanitation and adequate facilities for girls to manage their menstruation, as per Unicef. If one is not lucky enough to work in a glitzy new office or have the money to shop in one of the new malls, the public toilets one has to make do with often make one feel dirtier after using them than before.

It is clear that we need a comprehensive policy to address our sanitation woes. Sanitation is a basic human right and access to clean and safe toilets at home and outside ought not to be a luxury. Nor should a majority of households in the country be forced to rely on contaminated water or girls drop out of school while menstruating due to a lack of facilities. As our population grows rapidly and we become more exposed to threats of internal displacement due to climate change, we will find ourselves having to deal with more and more people that require access to public toilets and other safe and clean sanitation facilities. The inability to provide such facilities could burgeon into a serious public health emergency, undoing the progress we have made in reducing our disease burden.