World Toilet Day: Global economy loses US$4bn/year to poor sanitation

Current evidence shows that working days lost to poor sanitation costs the global economy approximately $4 billion per year. Loss of productivity due to illnesses caused by lack of sanitation and poor hygiene practices is estimated to cost many countries up to 5 percent of GDP. A lack of access to sanitation cost the global economy US$222.9 billion in 2015, up from US$182.5 billion in 2010, a rise of 22 percent in just five years.

This scenario, among other things, was the concern of environment enthusiasts who gathered in towns and cities globally to mark this year’s World Toilet Day, stressing the need for urban sanitation and healthy living. This year’s global theme for the Day highlights the fact that improved sanitation impacts not only health but livelihoods too, and has the potential to transform societies and economies by, amongst other things, creating new green jobs and a healthier, more sustainable future.

Available statistics shows that, globally, about 315,000 children die each year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. That means almost 900 children each day, or one child every two minutes.

WaterAid Nigeria reveals that over 650 million people (around one in ten) are without safe water; over 2.3 billion people (around one in three) live without improved sanitation;  for every £1 invested in water and sanitation, an average of £4 is returned in increased productivity, and that  just £15 is needed to help provide one person with access to safe water.

In Nigeria, the international organization notes that only 29 percent of the population has access to basic sanitation and that Nigeria is one of a handful of countries around the world where access to basic sanitation is falling rather than rising.  In the country with a population of 180 million,  25 percent practice open defecation using roadsides, railway tracks and even plastic bags dubbed ‘flying toilets’, while  31 percent lack access to improved water sources.

Sub-Saharan Africa ranks lowest in the world for access to improved drinking water and sanitation. This is linked to the region’s under-five mortality rate which is one of the highest in the world. Around 45, 000 children under the age of five in Nigeria die from diseases caused by the nation’s poor levels of access to water, sanitation and hygiene.

Against this backdrop, WaterAid is calling for action, asking Nigerian  government to keep its promise to deliver universal access to sanitation, more so as the release of new analysis shows that Nigeria ranks third in the world and worst in Sub-Saharan Africa for having the most urban-dwellers living without  safe, private toilets.

The organization is worried with The State of the World Toilets report which looks at the problem of urban sanitation and the health threats to the world. “The UN predicts that by 2050, two-thirds of the global population will live in towns and cities. Nigeria too has a huge population and extremely rapid rural–urban migration; however, economic development and urban planning have not kept pace with the sheer volumes of people arriving – and being born – every day in its towns and cities”, it says.

WarerAid is pleading that, among other things, everyone living in urban areas, including slums, be reached with a toilet to ensure public health is protected; more money, better targeted and spent, from governments and donors on sanitation, clean water and hygiene for the urban poor, and there should be coordination from all actors in the sanitation chain, including governments, city planners, NGOs, the private sector, informal service providers and citizens.