The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday, urged governments to evolve measures that would reduce open defecation in their communities.
The UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Lagos said in a statement to mark 2013 World Toilet Day that governments were still paying lip-service to the provision of toilets.
“Over the last hundred years, the natural inevitable act of open defecation has been locked out of polite society.
“Many people around the world still have no decent sanitation. One billion of them must do something called “open defecation”.
“Everyday, nearly two billion tons of human faeces, litters the surface of our planet ready to be trodden on, touched or ingested in water and food.
“But that is about to change, because today is the first ever UN-endorsed World Toilet Day,’’ it said.
The organisation listed the consequences of open defecation to include contamination, diarrhoea, pneumonia and other respiratory infections.
It added that women and girls were mostly being affected by the dangers of open defecation.
The UN, however, noted that since 1990 only 1.9 billion of the world population had had access to improved sanitation.
“Experts in malnutrition now understand that sanitation plays a vital role in both the problem and the solution.
“Improving sanitation can reduce stunting and improve nutrition, the economy and development,’’ it said.