Today it's the World Toilet Day - Highlights from the Peepoo School Project in Kibera, Nairobi

Today we highlight the World Toilet Day

- Did you know that every third person on the planet is lacking a toilet?

Without toilets, people are at great risk of lethal epidemic diseases such as cholera and diarrhea, which is killing 1.4 million children every year. Lack of toilets is also the major reason why many girls in urban slums do not finish school. In Nairobi, IAS together with local partner Peepoople Kenya is bringing Peepoo toilets to schools in the slum, to give children a better chance to remain in class and stay healthy. After use, Peepoo turns into valuable fertiliser that can improve livelihoods and increase food security.

In a typical primary school in the world’s slums, the state of the sanitary facilities and the level of the children’s hygiene are poor. Often hundreds of children have to share single pit latrines.

Preventing girls dropping out of school

In many schools toilet floors can be covered with fresh faeces and are wet with urine. Children without shoes are left with no option but to stand barefoot in this mess to relieve themselves.

For girls who are approaching puberty the situation is even more severe. About one in 10 school-age girls do not attend school during menstruation and many also drop out of school due to lack of clean sanitation facilities. Having a personal toilet in school helps the girls to finish their education.

One of girls that is happy for this personal toilet is Doreen Indasi, 13, Kibera, Kenya.

• The Peepoo toilet has brought advantages for me in school and I also like the health club where we learn about hygiene. We also have Peepoo at home, and this is especially helpful during the night when I cannot go out. It is dangerous to use the pit latrine in the evening. At night we keep the used Peepoos at home. In the morning my mother takes them to the drop point. The latrines we used to go to were always dirty, and far away. With Peepoo we save time and we can stay in class.

The Peepoople product is being distributed to 100 schools and more than 20 000 school going children living in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

More info about the Peepoo product can be found on the Peepoople website