poo facts

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In the developing world, water and sanitation are at the core of all development challenges. Lack of clean water and improper disposal of human waste give rise to diseases such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery, which take the lives of thousands of children each day. These deaths from water-related diseases are preventable.

Sanitation has been rated as the greatest medical advance in the last 150 years. And yet some 2.6 billion people (almost half the world's population) do not have access to a toilet and lack even a bucket for their waste.

Achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation is estimated to require about £10 billion, which equals just five days of global military spending (The Guardian). The benefits in terms of economic output and health savings far outweighs the cost. Failure to achieve these goals is, as Jacques Chirac points out, not only a "moral scandal but also an economic absurdity".

Without action on sanitation and water, other aid work - in healthcare, education, gender equity AIDs/HIV, economic productivity – is likely to fail. Without action on sanitation and water, the other critical Millennium Development Goals are in jeopardy.

Did you know?

• 2.6 billion people do not have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet.¹
• One gram of faeces can contain 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs.²
• The simple act of washing hands with soap and water after going to the toilet can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40%.³
• Safe disposal of children's faeces leads to a reduction of nearly 40% in childhood diarrhoea.⁴
• Diarrhoea claims the lives of over 5,000 children a day (nearly two million a year), World Health Organisation.⁵
• Contaminated water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene cause over 80% of all disease in developing countries.⁶
• At any one time, 1.5 billion people suffer from parasitic worm infections stemming from human excreta and solid wastes in the environment.⁷
• Every $1 spent on sewage saves $8 in lost productivity.⁸

¹WaterAid. ²WaterAid. ³WaterAid. ⁴WaterAid. ⁵World Health Organisation. ⁶The Guardian. ⁷WaterAid. ⁸The Guardian.

Relevant Articles

Time to Wake Up and Smell the Great Stench
Why water is gravest challenge facing humanity
The Human Waste Report
Sanitation rated the greatest medical advance in 150 years
The Silent Sanitation Scandal
Water with Strings Attached
We cannot tolerate children dying for a glass of water
Dirty water kills 5,000 children a day
Water crisis is now "one of the greatest causes of mass suffering"
Water and sanitation guide
Historic Figures: John Snow at BBC History & UCLA Department of Epidemiology