“Safe toilets for all by 2030” is one of the Sustainable Development Goal targets. But, with just more than five years to go until 2030, the United Nations says the world is “seriously off-track … 3.5 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, including 419 million who practise open defecation”. That includes millions of people across Africa.
On 19 November each year the UN marks World Toilet Day. In 2024, people’s ability to access safe, hygienic toilets is being disrupted by climate change, war and disaster in parts of the continent affected by flooding, climate-induced migration and conflict. The results: cholera outbreaks, sewage spills, and people continuing to suffer the indignity of going without proper toilets.
The Conversation Africa has published a number of articles explaining the continent’s sanitation problems – and potential solutions. Here are six essential reads.
