One of the worlds biggest problems

Women and the lack of toilets
Shortage of fresh and clean water
Refugees


In the world today, more than 2.6 billion people have no access to basic sanitation. That means that 40 out of every 100 people lack even the most simple latrine to perform their needs. The lack of toilets affects both society and the individual through the contamination of fresh water and ground water. Human faeces contain viruses, bacteria, worms and parasites which kill and infect people. One child in the world dies every 15 seconds due to contaminated water.

The UN Millennium Development Goal 7 Target 10 was established in 2002 to halve by 2015 the number of people without sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation. That amounts to 1.3 billion people within 13 years. Unfortunately, the progress towards this goal has been slow or even negative. One factor is the rapid growth of the number of people living in slums or slum-like conditions.*

Now there are 5 years left.
It is obvious that some of the major characteristics and thinking within the sector need to change in order to accelerate sanitation coverage. Business as usual is no longer the way forward. We have to start Rethinking Sanitation.*

Start at the source.
The most obvious way to a solution is to start at the source. Prevent disease transmission as soon as possible through rapid inactivation of pathogens directly after defecation. In high density urban areas a project that simply provides latrines cannot achieve sustainable toilets.

Offer a choice.
At the same time, most of those who need sanitation are poor and can least afford it and, therefore, have no choice other than to use what is readily available. By offering a choice, and developing and marketing an extremely low-cost product, innovation can create demand among the poor. Choice is also connected to dignity and status which are of decisive importance in making the decision to invest in a toilet.*

Be economically sustainable.
Most toilets are part of larger infrastructure systems, dependent on complex investments and institutional changes. Rethinking this model calls for a soft approach that can handle rapid implementation. At the same time, all solutions must be designed to enable the growth of economically sustainable service systems for a longer timeframe