“Valuing Toilets”- USAID-NISHTHA, Hosts Webinar to Highlight the Value of Toilets to Build Resilience for Sustained Sanitation Behavior

USAID-NISHTHA,

November 18, 2021: Ahead of the ‘World Toilet Day’, celebrated on November 19, USAID’s flagship health system strengthening project NISHTHA, in partnership with Unilever, organized a collaborative webinar titled “Voices from the field – Valuing Toilets and Building Resilience for Sustained Sanitation Behavior”. The webinar brought together like-minded stakeholders to draw attention to the importance of accessible toilets and their role in improving hygiene and health around the world.

The global theme for World Toilet Day, 2021, is ‘Valuing Toilets’, which entails the need to highlight the availability and accessibility of toilets for everyone. The reality is that toilets – and the sanitation systems that support them – are underfunded, poorly managed, or neglected in many areas of the globe, with disastrous health, economic, and environmental repercussions, particularly in the poorest and most vulnerable communities. Aligned with the global theme, the webinar brought forth the real challenges faced by masses across genders in various situations, irrespective of social backgrounds and landscapes.

To have a holistic conversation, the webinar was divided into two sessions dedicated to covering macro and micro challenges and opportunities. It aimed to inspire and strengthen conversations with a network of stakeholders including policymakers, subject experts, local stakeholders, beneficiaries from the National and the local level, highlighting the ground realities, and the way forward.

USAID’s NISHTHA is supporting state governments in leveraging the Health and Wellness Centres platform under Ayushman Bharat for health promotion and prevention during health and wellness sessions, where communities are educated on the importance of using toilets and following proper sanitation practices.

In her opening remarks, Sangita Patel, Director, Health Office, USAID/India noted that “increasing access to basic health care, including proper sanitation, necessitates collaborative efforts at the local level. She went on to highlight that such large-scale improvements require partnership, and the most significant advancements require partners from both the public and private sectors.” USAID is working with the government along with private sector partners, like Unilever, to reach out to populations with the greatest need for improved sanitation by making poverty and gender considerations in all levels of sanitation program design and implementation.

Elaborating on the cause of the vulnerable populations Anjalli Ravi Kumar, Global Sustainability Director for Health & Wellbeing, Unilever, stated, “We need financially and environmentally sustainable sanitation solutions to address the unique challenges in the urban areas. Urban cities face the biggest challenge of providing water, hygiene, and sanitation solutions to the growing population. Unilever’s self-sustainable community-based program, Suvidha, is working to resolve many of these challenges. As a private player, our efforts are directed towards helping national governments achieve successful national plans and strategies for reaching and maintaining universal access by lobbying for enhanced governance, finance, and capacity building.”

Hon’ble Health Minister for Nagaland Shri. S Pangnyu Phom, also joined the session virtually and highlighted the experiences of the state to enhance sanitation coverage. He also emphasized the USAID-NISHTHA and Unilever support to the state for promoting healthy hygiene behaviors.

The session was moderated by Dr. Somesh Kumar, Country Director Jhpiego and Dr. Anuradha Jain, Technical Advisor, Health System Strengthening, USAID India.  Other panelists included Dr. Sanjeev Jha, Director, India Sanitation coalition and stakeholders from the field including Devidas Kisan, Nimje, Samarthan, Sarita Baghel, Sarpanch, Bejora, Chhattisgarh and Rashmi Pandey, Community Health Officer, Madhya Pradesh.

Partnerships between the public and private sectors can aid in the fight against the global sanitation challenge. Partners may design and execute new, scalable solutions by bringing together distinct skill sets and resources. The world’s biggest companies can raise the political and financial importance given to sanitation concerns by collaborating with international organizations, governments, NGOs, and civil society. With over a third of the world’s population lacking access to a clean, safe toilet, collaborations that bring together the private sector’s experience, knowledge, and resources may help create potentially transformative solutions that might provide safe sanitation to hundreds of millions of people.