No toilets

While the lack of public toilets is known to cause many health and sanitation problems, in her recent visit to Pakistan, the Unicef deputy executive director warned that open defecation is causing stunted growth in more than 40 million Pakistanis. Geeta Rao Gupta explained that intestinal infections from defecating openly caused stunting in young children. This in turn adversely affected their brain development and made them vulnerable to disease. With our sewerage system in disarray and our few public toilets poorly maintained, the sanitation level in the country is miserable to say the least. Pakistan has the dubious distinction of being the third largest country without access to public toilets and open defecation is polluting drinking water and causing intestinal and reproductive diseases. While men can often be seen relieving themselves openly, the lack of public toilets puts women at a serious disadvantage since they are less likely to defecate in the open, more likely to search for private spots to relieve themselves and more likely to be assaulted while doing so.

The lack of toilet facilities seriously deters girls from going to school and exacerbates existing gender imbalances. Open defecation is also a threat to polio eradication, given that the polio virus spreads through the faecal-oral route. Pakistan’s sanitation problems are compounded by the fact that a significant proportion of its households do not have access to toilets at all. Water and sewage lines often run side by side, posing myriad health hazards. Little wonder then that Pakistan is one of the countries most off-track in achieving the UN’s sanitation targets in the Millenium Development Goals for 2015. The authorities need to prioritise the building and maintenance of sanitation facilities and must create awareness regarding personal hygiene. Partnering with Unicef to help communities build toilets is a step in the right direction but much more needs to be done.


Published in The Express Tribune, March  13^th,  2015.