By
Joe DeCapua
 |
Aminata Rabo, of
diarrhea and a daughter to
malaria.
Credit: Water Aid Photo © VOA News
|
November
19th is World Toilet Day. It’s estimated that more than a billion women lack
access to safe sanitation. The NGO WaterAid says a lack of adequate toilets
puts women at risk of shame, disease, harassment and even violence.
WaterAid
Chief Executive Barbara Frost said governments need to invest a lot more in
sanitation to improve women’s health and livelihoods.
“On
World Toilet Day, the message that WaterAid is putting out is that one in three
women still don’t have a decent toilet. And what that means is that they have
to wait until it’s after dark to go out and find a safe place to relieve
themselves – a threat to their health, to their security, to their safety,” she
said.
She
said the problem is particularly bad in Africa ,
where seven out of ten women have no access to a safe toilet.
“Women
and girls bear the brunt of poor sanitation and not having a decent toilet. And
many girls drop out of school at puberty because there isn’t a safe place for
them to wash when they’re menstruating. And also women spend so many hours
looking after their children, who are sick as a result of diarrheal diseases,”
she said.
WaterAid
commissioned a survey in five slums in Lagos ,
Nigeria Uganda
and Kenya
Frost
added the lack of sanitation has other tragic consequences as well.
“Every
day 2000 mothers lose a child as a result of waterborne diseases, which is a
terrible trauma and tragedy. And many other women are having to stay at home
looking after their children, who’ve got diarrheal diseases as a result of
drinking unsafe water or using poor sanitation,” she said.
WaterAid
has programs in 27 countries in Africa, Asia
and the Pacific region. ---VOA News
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