More People Have a Mobile Phone Than a Toilet
As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it.
More people have a mobile phone than a toilet. Think about that. Which one would you rather have?
Aside from convenience and comfort, there are serious health risks associated with open defecation (behind bushes or into open bodies of water). Unfortunately, fecal contamination is found in water sources when communities do not have latrines. Just having access to latrines and promoting hygienic behaviors can save lives.
In 2017 the World Health Organization reported that 2.4 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Of these, 892 million still defecate in the open. Food is often irrigated by wastewater, people drink from the same water sources where animals and humans defecate and the result is that people die daily from preventable diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid, and cholera.
We work year-round in all of our countries helping to increase the understanding of the health risks rural communities’ face when there are no latrines. Once people understand that the some of the many deaths they have seen can be prevented, they are anxious to organize and mobilize their communities around creating a plan to build latrines in their communities.
In honor of the 2.4 billion people that lack basic sanitation, we are trying to raise $2,400 today. Join the movement and donate now.
-Follow, upvote, and resteem our posts to spread the word
-Join The Village, our members program where you can make a monthly contribution and recieve benifits
-Visit us at choicehumanitarian.org to find out more ways to help