{{United Nations study has found that more people around the world have access to a cellphone than to a working toilet.}}<\/p>\n
The study\u2019s numbers claim that of the world\u2019s estimated 7 billion people, 6 billion have access to mobile phones. However, only 4.5 billion have access to a toilet.<\/p>\n
At a press conference announcing the report, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson announced the organization is launching an effort to halve the number of those without access by the end of 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s face it\u2014this is a problem that people do not like to talk about. <\/p>\n
But it goes to the heart of ensuring good health, a clean environment and fundamental human dignity for billions of people,\u201d Eliasson said at the press conference.<\/p>\n
In August 2012, the Bill Gates Foundation began its own effort to \u201creinvent the toilet\u201d as a way to help curb the number of people around the world without access to sanitary waste disposal.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the report states that India alone is responsible for 60 percent of the world\u2019s population that does not use a toilet, an estimated 626 million individuals. Yet, at the same time, there are an estimated 1 billion cellphones in India.<\/p>\n
Conversely, in the world\u2019s most highly populated country, China, only 14 million people do not have access to a toilet. However, there are also fewer cellphones in China, 986 million, according to the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n
Driving the point home, more than 750,000 people die each year from diarrhea and one of its primary causes is from unsanitary conditions created in communities without access to toilets.<\/p>\n
And there are other benefits of installing more modern sanitation options that don\u2019t immediately come to mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis can also improve the safety of women and girls, who are often targeted when they are alone outdoors,\u201d said Martin Mogwanja, deputy executive director of the U.N. Children\u2019s Fund. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd providing safe and private toilets may also help girls to stay in school, which we know can increase their future earnings and help break the cycle of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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