Was anybody else totally blindsided by this toilet paper stockpiling thing? It feels like I walked into my local Woolies over the weekend and there was the regular amount of toilet paper on the shelves, but then they all disappeared all of a sudden. Sure, hand sanitiser and masks have been sold out for a while, but where did this toilet paper buying frenzy come from? And what about the people who live without toilets?
First of all, we really don’t need to be panic buying all the toilet paper in the world. We just don’t. Second of all, if these people are worried about a week without toilet paper, then I’ve got to wonder how they’d cope if they didn’t have a toilet at all – because that’s a reality for way too many people across the globe.
According to a report by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, 2.4 billion people don’t have access to proper toilets – that’s about one in every three people on earth. If you’ve ever cringed and decided to hold it when faced with a pit toilet in a national park (guilty), some people live day to day without even that level of sanitation.
This is bad news for all the reasons you’d immediately think of, but in a world currently consumed with fear about coronavirus, some equally scary diseases are being spread through compromised water supplies.
“Until everyone has access to adequate sanitation facilities, the quality of water supplies will be undermined and too many people will continue to die from waterborne and water-related diseases,” said Dr Maria Neira, Director of the WHO Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.
So if you’ve been stockpiling toilet paper, maybe consider donating a small part of your massive hoard to someone who needs it more? Just an idea.
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