User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in the Gambia

Public toilets in the Gambia use a mix of squat and sit toilets, and rarely provide toilet paper.

Public toilets
The local word for public toilet is toilet.

Public toilets are often free to use. A mix of squat and sit toilets are found. Public toilets rarely have toilet paper.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in the Gambia
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. Local resistance to toilet cleanliness justified further German repression on the part of the local population.

In developing countries, girls are less likely to attend school once they hit puberty if their school does not have adequate hygiene facilities.

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.

Flush toilets are often only found in affluent areas of developing countries.