Health Op-Ed

Hygienic Toilet And A Healthy Living By Folake Majekodunmi

Byhvzclarence

PublishedNovember 21, 2018

The United Nations officially recognised November 19 as the World Toilet Day which is aimed at inspiring actions to tackle the global sanitation crisis, increase public awareness on the importance of having hygienic toilets and support concerted efforts to widen access for people worldwide to have hygienic toilets.

Hygienic toilet has figured prominently in the safety and survival of lives at both local and international levels. Access to hygienic toilets has been likened to access to life because it saves lives. Hygienic toilet prevents the environment from being contaminated by human waste, slows the infection cycle of many disease outbreaks that can cause widespread illness and death as well as improves health.

The importance of hygienic toilets lies in an effort to prevent diseases which can be transmitted through human waste, which affect both the developing and under developed countries.

Today, it is unfortunate that some people are still “forced” to defecate out in the open due to lack of access to hygienic toilet which is a major cause of disease outbreak and threat to public health. According to the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund, around 60% of the global population i.e 4.5 billon people either have no toilet at home or don’t safely manage excreta. About 862 million people worldwide still defecate in the open , for example in some gutters behind bushes or into open bodies of water especially in the rural areas.

Open defecation perpetuates a vicious cycle of disease and seriously undermines progress in health and child survival. According to the UN, the countries where open defecation is most widely spread have the highest number of deaths of children aged under five years as well as the highest levels of malnutrition and poverty.

The UN notes that over 300,000 children are dying yearly from diarrhoea caused by poor sanitation while a lot of toilet infections are being contracted in the poorly managed toilets. Influenza, shigella bacteria, norovirus and gardnerella also known as bacterial vaginasis mostly found in women are examples of toilet infections.

In Nigeria, many private and public institutions such as schools, offices, bus stations (garages), police stations, courts and other government institutions, toilet facilities do not receive proper attention as compared to the rest of the buildings.

It must be noted that no matter how beautiful a building is, if the toilet is dirty, the building is seen as lacking. Therefore , there must be an increase in public awareness on the importance of having hygienic toilets.

Despite the fact that statistics show that the number of people gaining access to improved sanitation and hygienic toilet has risen, a lot still has to be done at both local and international levels.

Although statistics show that the number of people gaining access to improved sanitation and hygienic toilet has risen from 54% to 68%, some 2.3 billion people still do not have toilets or improved latrines. Therefore, government must mobilise the communities, especially in the rural areas to adopt safe disposal of human excreta and implement policies that will ensure strict adherence to the environment.

More so, health officials must be empowered to carry out timely inspections of toilets, soak-aways and general cleanliness of the environment and sanction any individual, homes or community found guilty of environmental offences.

Mobile toilets should also be constructed and placed in public places especially in motor parks. However, the public toilets must be neatly used by people and there must be workers specifically assigned to clean them so as to ensure cleanliness throughout the day.

Toilets in both private and public institutions must be given adequate attention with frequent water supply and provision of disinfectants. Besides, individuals who make use of the toilets must observe toilet etiquette such as flushing after use and washing of hands with soap and water.

Indeed, hygienic toilet and safety are like a dye put in water that cannot be separated. Access to basic sanitation and good hygiene is a human right and everyone deserves the right to a safe and hygienic toilet.