The lack of sanitation creates tremendous problems worldwide including environmental pollution, great social problems and unsafe surroundings, as well as greatly increasing the outbreak of lethal epidemic diseases such as cholera.
Without toilets, individuals and their environment are at risk from contamination of fresh water and ground water. That’s because human faeces contain infectious and often deadly pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, worms and parasites.
Women, adolescent girls and children are the most vulnerable group suffering from lack of basic sanitation in several ways. One child dies every 15 seconds due to contaminated water from human excreta. Up to 50% of all deaths in emergency, refugee and IDP camp situations are caused by diarrhoeal diseases. More than 80% of these deaths are children under two years of age.
When there is no privacy available for women to urinate or defecate in home or in shelter, they are frequent targets for sexual harassment and rape. Women are at great risk if they have to defecate in the open or use public latrines, especially at night, and their sense of dignity is also taken away. During their menstrual periods, adolescent girls are often forced to be absent from school due to the lack of privacy to take care of their hygiene