Schools are more than places to learn—they shape a child’s future. Yet, for millions of children worldwide, this critical environment is undermined by something as simple as access to a basic toilet.
Globally, 427m children go to school each day without a toilet that they can use. Unfortunately, the issue is not only whether schools have toilets. The reality is that 205m children attend schools where toilets exist but are unusable—these toilets are lost to neglect and children suffer as a result. This is a hidden phenomenon known as “Toilet Loss”, and it is happening in schools all over the world. The second year of this research programme, covering 65% of the world’s school-aged children, reveals that 14% of school toilets that exist today have fallen out of use since 2015. This is the equivalent of removing access to a school toilet for every child in Europe and North America combined. Dina Alborno, the Economist Impact, will present the research which assesses the economic and societal costs of toilets that become unusable through neglect (known as “Toilet Loss”) in schools, across 118 countries.
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