Proper Sanitation For All

Shit.

My grandma would wash my mouth out with soap if I said that word out loud in her presence. But now, it may be necessary to talk about it with your grandma.  Your mom, dad, aunt, teacher, or policeman. It time to talk about the smelly issue that confronts humanity.

Most people don’t realize the feats toilets take on everyday. Your toilet saves your life, shielding you from over 50 deadly diseases every time you decide to defecate. But every time you flush, your toilet uses 3 and half gallon of water to make shit disappear.

Many people can’t afford to use that much water daily, nor can they even afford a toilet. 2.6 million people don’t have access to proper sanitation services, 1 billion of these people defecate in the complete open.

Imagine if you were walking at the park or waiting for the bus, and the person next to you casually drops their pants and decides to have a nice poop. Then they would continue on with life as if nothing happened. In our society, you can get arrested for defecating in public. But for a billion daily, this a norm in life. Without access to sanitation services, shitting in public is the only thing they know how to do. 1.4 million children die yearly from coming into contact with feces. That’s roughly 1 child every second or a classroom of twenty dropping dead in under 7 minutes.  

In 2011, the UN planned to cut the number of people with no access to proper sanitation services in half. But to achieve this goal, people will need to raise awareness about the topic that has been locked behind bathroom doors for far too long. So we need to awaken our potty mouths and start speaking toilet talk. Meanwhile, I think I’ll go talk shit to my grandma.