User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Thailand

Public toilets in Thailand have a density of around three people 100,000 people, with most facilities often very basic. Squat toilets are the most common type of public toilets, with Western style toilets only beginning to overtake them in the past few years.

Public toilets
jamban means toilet in Malay. A 2021 study found there were three public toilets per 100,000 people. The facilities at public toilets are often minimal. Public toilets rarely have diaper changing stations. In 2018, squat toilets were one of the most common type of public toilets. In recent years, Western-style sit toilets have replaced squat toilets. Western style sit toilets are more popular among the emerging middle and upper class around the world. Bus and train stations frequently have squat toilets. At some higher end restaurants, toilet attendants massage men's necks and shoulders while they use the urinals.

Toilet paper is rarely provided as people are expected to use water to clean themselves instead as using water is viewed as more hygienic that using paper. In some places, this means there is a jug of water next to the toilet for that purpose. In other places, there are hand held hoses attached to the toilet that can be used to clean intimate areas.

History
The Ministry of Public Health, Health Department, created a toilet contest in 2005 to encourage local governments to invest in public toilets and improved sanitation. The program was widely publicized and resulted in increased revenues for public toilets. The program also created an award for the best public toilet of the year. The program also created inspectors for public toilets.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health created an initiative to improve the quality of toilets in schools in the 2000s. A trial was done in one province in 2008, which was successful in getting all the schools in that province to meet toilet standards.

The toilets at Kampang Secondary School in the 2000s were very clean, and won national awards for their cleanliness. They also had three toilets for students, a boys toilet, a girls toilet and a transsexual toilet. Around that time, between 10 and 20% of the boys in the school identified as transsexual, and the school created the toilet to reduce bullying while making female students  feel comfortable by not having to share a public toilet with these male students.

Ophas Chansuksei, a 68-year-old street vendor, was given an 18-month prison sentence in October 2015 for defacing a public toilet in a mall with a message viewed as insulting to the country's king.

There were few public toilets in Phuket in 2016. There were not many toilets in areas with many tourists in Thailand in 2016. The public toilets that did exist were often in such poor condition that they were impacting international tourist choices.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in Thailand
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. Around 675 million people in South Asia practiced open defecation in 2016. This was more than any other region in the world. 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.

Public toilet access has been used intentionally in South Asia to exclude certain segments of the population from participating in public life. Western public toilet standards including privatization and limited opening hours disadvantage women when implemented in countries in the Far East. The left hand is used for cleaning the anal area after defecating and is consequently often culturally considered to be unclean.

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.

ASEAN developed a plan in 2002 that they asked to be implemented in member countries to expand public toilet access across the countries it represents. The goal was in part to help expand tourist infrastructure and improve regional economics.

Across Southeast Asia in places where Western style flush toilets are found, many do not have toilet seats. These toilets may also not automatically flush, requiring manual flushing.