KATHMANDU, Nov 19: The World Toilet Day is being observed today in Nepal as well with a variety of programs.
November 19 has been observed as the World Toilet Day since 2013, at the call of the United Nations to promote awareness on sanitation and access to clean and safe toilets.
The Day is being celebrated under the slogan 'Accelerating the pace of change' linking with sustainable development goal number 6 of clean drinking water and sanitation.
World Red Cross Day being observed today
According to the United Nations, three and a half billion people in the world are still deprived of safe toilet facilities. Among them, 419 million people still defecate in the open. Likewise, around 1000 children die every day due to diseases spread due to open faeces and urine.
Nepal declared itself open defecation-free on September 30, 2019 to become the first country in South Asia to do so. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve the goal of complete sanitation. According to the United Nations water and sanitation agency, only 51 percent of Nepal's population has access to safe sanitation services. Furthermore, only 64 percent of Nepal's population has the facility of washing their hands with soap and water.
Likewise, treatment and proper management of waste water coming out of the house is only 39 percent.
President of Smart WASH Solutions Nepal, Ramdeep Shah, said that to achieve the goal of clean drinking water and sanitation for all the ongoing initiatives should be carried out five times faster.
