User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Yemen

Public toilets in Yemen are rare, though they can sometimes be found in markets or mosques. When they do exist, they are often a combination of sit and squat toilets.

Public toilets
Public toilets can sometimes be found in markets and in mosques. When public toilets do exist, they are often a combination of sit and squat toilets, with more squat toilets than sit toilets.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has built around 14,500 public and private toilets in Yemen by 2020. The UNDP have also provided personal hygiene kits to help combat the spread of covid-19.

In the absence of public toilets in Yemen, people engage in open defecation and public urination. This happens around the country, including in Aden. This puts people, and particularly children, at risk of contracting diseases. Dar Saad has dealt with issues like water scarcity on top of lack of public toilets.

History
Following Lieutenant-Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi's death in 1977, international NGOs and the Yemeni government began infrastructure projects like building regional markets. Features of these markets included public toilets.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in Yemen
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.

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.

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.