User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Madagascar

Public toilet in Madagascar are limited in number, with around three per 100,000 people and only 131 total in the capital, Antananarivo. Public toilets are found in some restaurants, bars and hotels. Open defecation is common.

Public toilets
A French speaking country, the local words for toilets include toilettes and WC, while the local word for toilet paper is Papier toilette, the word for men's toilet is hommes and the word for women's toilet is femmes.

A 2021 study found there were three public toilets per 100,000 people. Taxibrousses have regular stops for bathroom breaks on both national and regional routes. Some bars and restaurants in Antananarivo have public toilets that people can use. Toilet facilities in rural hotels can be limited. At the Hotel Manja in Ranomafana, some rooms had sit down toilets but did not have toilet seats. Others only have composting toilets and a bucket for a shower. Cheaper rooms may have toilet facilities shared across several rooms.

The lack of public toilets in Antananarivo meant open defecation was often practiced, especially open urination by men against walls. Antananarivo announced a plan to build 500 public toilets in 2022. AT the time, there were only 131 public toilets in a city with half a million residents. The government made a similar announcement, looking for bids for companies to construct public toilets in 2020 but there were few bidders.

Open defecation and sanitation
Progress began to be made in general waste management in the 1990s.

WaterAid said in 2016 that the country ranked in the top ten in the world for countries where open defecation was most common. On a per capita basis, WaterAid said in 2016 Madagascar was in the top ten in the world for having the least number of safe and private toilets in urban areas.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in Madagascar
Around 2.5 billion people around the world in 2018 did not have access to adequate toilet facilities. Around 4.5 billion people lacked access to proper sanitation. Public toilet access around the world is most acute in the Global South, with around 3.6 billion people, 40% of the world's total population, lacking access to any toilet facilities. 2.3 people in the the Global South do not have toilet facilities in their residence. Despite the fact that the United Nation made a declaration in 2010 that clean water and sanitation is a human right, little has been done in many places towards addressing this on a wider level. There are a lack of public toilets in East Africa.

Public toilets, depending on their design, can be tools of social exclusion. The lack of single-sex women's toilets in developing countries makes it harder for women to participate in public life, in education and in the workplace. Across Africa, open defecation had social consequences. These included loss of dignity and privacy. It also put women at risk of sexual violence.

An issue in developing countries is toilet access in schools. Only 46% of schools in developing countries have them. Many schools around the world in 2018 did not have toilets, with the problem particularly acute in parts of Africa and Asia. Only one in five primary schools on earth had a toilet and only one in eight secondary schools had public toilets.

There are generally two toilet styles in public bathrooms in Africa. One is a traditional squat toilet. The other is a western style toilet with bowl and a place to sit.