01:14USA: UN inflates Giant TOILET outside HQ
Officials at the United Nations marked World Toilet Day on Wednesday at UN headquarters in New York, erecting a giant inflatable toilet outside the building and holding a press conference to discuss the importance of toilets and adequate sanitation in preventing the spread of various diseases, including Ebola. At the press conference, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation Michel Jarraud said that inadequate sanitation has "exacerbated" the spread of numerous illnesses, "including the spread of the Ebola disease."
The UN hopes to provide access to toilets to over one billion people worldwide who currently defecate in the open. The practice, officials argue, can lead to health issues and expose individuals to sexual violence.
About 82 percent of people who openly defecate live in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Niger, Nepal, China, and Mozambique. While numbers have been decreasing throughout much of the world, rates of open defecation have are rising in 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Nigeria.
01:14Officials at the United Nations marked World Toilet Day on Wednesday at UN headquarters in New York, erecting a giant inflatable toilet outside the building and holding a press conference to discuss the importance of toilets and adequate sanitation in preventing the spread of various diseases, including Ebola. At the press conference, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation Michel Jarraud said that inadequate sanitation has "exacerbated" the spread of numerous illnesses, "including the spread of the Ebola disease."
The UN hopes to provide access to toilets to over one billion people worldwide who currently defecate in the open. The practice, officials argue, can lead to health issues and expose individuals to sexual violence.
About 82 percent of people who openly defecate live in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Niger, Nepal, China, and Mozambique. While numbers have been decreasing throughout much of the world, rates of open defecation have are rising in 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Nigeria.