Today, we are celebrating the World Toilet Day created to raise awareness about the need of having proper sanitation. Hygiene and sanitation are basic human rights. They are key for our wellbeing and taken many times from granted, while approximately 4.2 billion people around the globe still live without access to something as simple as a toilet.

As part of our Corporate Social Responsibility, at Dunster House, we use our resources to develop Disaster Relief products that can make a change. According to a research made by Unicef in 2016, children were the most affected by the lack of proper sanitation, with 800 children dying every day due to associated diarrhoeal diseases. Appropriate sanitation can prevent deaths through clean water, handwashing facilities and sustainable hygiene. This is why today, we have a good opportunity to take action and remind the importance of working to stop the spread of infectious diseases by easing the access to proper sanitation for all.

The aim of having accessible water and sanitation for all is also one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals included in the Agenda 2030. Sustainable sanitation begins with something as basic as a toilet, which captures human waste in a safe, accessible and dignified setting.

Nowadays, thousands of people are still practising open defecation because they don’t have access to a safe toilet. Open defecation and unimproved sanitation are among the main factors leading to malnutrition, as they contribute to water and soil pollution. Some NGO’s as Unicef aim to reduce the population forced to practise open defecation from 122 million to 88 million in 2021. At Dunster House, we also work to help those living in situations of humanitarian crisis. Recently, we have just been awarded long-term agreement to supply Latrine Superstructres and Raised Latrines to Unicef, extending our commitment for two years more, after first becoming an Official Supplier in 2017.

These products are designed to provide disaster relief in situations of humanitarian crisis, helping to avoid, not only, indignity situations endured by those lacking basic sanitation facilities, but also the number of diseases caused by the bacteria found on human excreta.

We are continuously developing sanitation solutions, to help those, who need it the most. We have created a range of safe, resistant and low maintenance products, including our range of Latrines and the Dunster House Slab, which is the lightest and thinnest Squatting Plate in the market.

We are committed to make a change and we work towards sustainable sanitation systems that can improve lives and also help to fight climate change. We need to take action and work for a brighter and fairer future, keeping our planet and people safe.