Can I get a little privacy? Creating awareness on World Toilet Day

Alone time is often taken for granted. Privacy in the bathroom? Many Americans don’t even have to give it a second thought, save for a young child who hasn’t quite yet learned how to knock.

The grand majority of U.S. residents has access to privacy and likely never has to think about where they will go that day. However, it’s a different story across the world. Globally, six out of 10 people don’t have access to flush toilets, according to ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Today, Nov. 19, United Nations-Water is bringing awareness to the issue. With World Toilet Day, the organization wants to inspire the world to help end open defection and showcase how improved sanitation can lead to a reduction of assault and violence on women and girls.

U.N.-Water estimated 2.5 billion of the world’s 7 billion people are without improved sanitation. Approximately 1 billion still defecate in the open and millions of women and children risk abuse due to lack of privacy.

Here are some organizations and articles to look at on World Toilet Day, because everyone deserves access to use of a sanitary bathroom.