Posted on 05/07/2007 9:57:01 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
New York (dpa) - If the topic generates discomfort or shyness, the United Nations Monday recommended consideration of this fact: 2.6 billion people - or nearly half the world's population - still do not have toilets.
The figure was released as the organization prepares to discuss the International Year of Sanitation in 2008.
The lack of proper sanitation increases the risk of preventable diseases, which hit children harder in poor countries. Currently two of five people on earth do not have sanitation, a problem prompting the UN General Assembly to declare the international year to highlight problems caused by the lack of toilets.
The international year is chaired by the Prince of Orange, Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. ``As far as I am concerned, this meeting will focus on one central question: What do we want to achieve by the end of 2008, and how do we achieve it,'' he says in prepared remarks.
Willem-Alexander says concrete projects and partnerships have to be drawn up, backed by statistics and funding, before November.
The UN said over 1 billion people worldwide have received sanitation in the past 14 years thanks to efforts by the international community to meet demands by the world population, which now stands at 6.6 billion.
Of the 2.6 billion people still without toilets, an estimated 980 million are children.
``Children are especially vulnerable to diseases caused by the lack of proper sanitation,'' said Ann Veneman, the director of the UN Children's Fund, in advance of the preparatory meeting at UN headquarters in New York while she was visiting Asia.
``Poor sanitation, hygiene and unsafe water claim the lives of an estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five every year,'' Veneman said.
If we all send them just one square of toilet paper...
I blame Sheryl Crow.
I don’t have a square to spare.
/Seinfeld
Wait a minute, there can’t be that many people in New Orleans
Where do I send my check to the UN Childrens’ Toilet Fund?
And these 2 billion people live in dictator controlled countries. You think there is any connection?
Perhaps they could just use the UN for a toilet. Much more practical than current usage.
Dig a deep hole, away from your water supply and put a board with a hole over it.
It’s hard enough to find a toilet while walking in downtown Manhattan.
Holy Crapper, Batman!........
SO, it is true..all these years the U.S. has been pumping money into a real crapper....the UN.
Meadow Muffin
Hey !!! Just think of all the water we’re saving !!!!!
(’Could lead to deforestation though !!)
Naw, Bush’s fault...
Even when I was growing up in Mississippi, we had an outhouse...........
Do they count those crappy 1.6 gallon things they force us to use???
Apparently the problem is NOT ENOUGH BUSHES!.........
Ain't communism and socialism great?!
Invite all of them to come to the UN building and use theirs.
Since they don’t know what a toilet is hopefully they will crap all over the floor and drink out of the toilet.
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