UN chief urges countries to keep promise to deliver health, sanitation to all - China.org.cn

In a Friday message for World Toilet Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on countries to ensure everyone has access to health and sanitation.

"Life without a toilet is dirty, dangerous and undignified," he said. "Yet 3.6 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, threatening health, harming the environment, and hindering economic development."

Lack of proper sanitation can also be lethal. Every day, more than 700 children under the age of five die from diarrhea linked to unsafe water and sanitation, according to UN data.

World Toilet Day, which falls on Nov. 19 annually and has been commemorated since 2013, aims to break taboos and make sanitation for all a global development priority.

Toilets save lives and help improve gender equality and society overall, according to the secretary-general.