SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Recently, a Unicef warning announced that an alarming 41 million people in Pakistan lack access to adequate toilets; forcing them to defecate in public. Pakistan is in fact the third largest country, behind India and Indonesia, where people are forced to defecate in the open. Thus At least 44% of Pakistan’s population does not have access to safe toilets, while 53% women in Pakistan don’t have sanitation options with privacy. Marking the 19 November as World Toilet Day is a recognition by UN and as reminder for government that millions of Pakistanis still lacking access to adequate and appropriate sanitation in Pakistan, which also have devastating consequences in particular for the well-being, health, education and women empowerment, said that participants. More than half women population in Pakistan are at risk shame, disease, and harassment as they have no safe place to go for defecation; hence over 20 million Pakistani women have no choice but to go to the toilet out in the open, they added. Globally 2.5 billion people do not have clean toilets; 1.1 billion people defecate in the open of which 43 million are in Pakistan. More than half of the women in Pakistan do not have access to a safe toilet, threatening their health. The city of Lahore is home to millions of people and has only 21 public bathrooms. Many of these are in dire condition and in a state of chronic decay. It is tragic that in a country that receives millions of dollars of aid annually, we have failed to provide the most fundamental necessities such as clean bathrooms to our people! Forcing individuals to seek out places to defecate leads to stool withholding behavior, constipation, and stunting. Abdul Hafeez from WaterAid Pakistan said “Pakistan is currently 15 years off track from meeting the sanitation Millennium Development Goal target, which was due to be completed in 2015. Every year it is estimated that over 30,000 women and girls die from diseases brought about from a lack of access to sanitation and water in Pakistan. It is duty of the government to run campaigns against the open defecation. And, massive efforts must be implemented to create behavioural change, provide adequate facilities, and increase awareness about overall hygiene.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
