User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Mauritania

Public toilets in Mauritania are found at a rate of four per 100,000 people.

Public toilets
A 2021 study found there were are public toilets per 100,000 people.

Only 36% of the population in the regions of Hodh El Chargui, Assaba and Gorgol  had access to clean drinking water in 2004. Only 49% of the population had access to clean drinking water in 2004. Only 20% of the population in the regions of Hodh El Chargui, Assaba and Gorgol had access to healthcare in 2004.

Public toilets were found in Tenllaba in the early 2000s. Some of these were built by outsider aide groups, while some were built by locals after women expressed a need for such facilities.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in Mauritania
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.

German notions of cultural codes around the usage of public toilets has been exported to many parts of the world as a result of German colonialism, but many places in Africa and the Pacific continue to challenge those norms around cleanliness well into the 2010s.

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. In developing countries, girls are less likely to attend school once they hit puberty if their school does not have adequate hygiene facilities. 344 million children in sub-Saharan Africa did not have a toilet in their home in 2018. The lack of toilet access put these children at risk of water borne diseases.

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. Flush toilets are often only found in affluent areas of developing countries. Islamic teachings suggest using water for cleaning after using the toilet. A popular item for Arab travelers to take with them on trips is a handheld portable bidet.