Of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have mobile phones. Yet two and a half billion people do not have access to toilets or latrines. In the second decade of the 21^st century, there are over 1.1 billion people still defecating in the open. That’s crazy! 

The Millennium Development Goals have raised awareness of sanitation needs and have helped mobilize significant progress—1.8 billion people have gained access to toilets or latrines since 1990. But we still have a long way to go.

Open defecation goes hand-in-hand with extreme poverty. In many countries, 95% or more of the poorest 1/5 of the population practices open defection. Despite progress since 1990, the poorest 40 percent have seen minimal change. 1 out of every 4 people in the least developed countries practices open defection.

Ending open defecation is not just about building toilets.  Poor sanitation has a direct impact on health, education, gender equality and poverty reduction. 

In September, leaders from around the world will be meeting to discuss the progress that has been made on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The sanitation MDG, to reduce the number of people without access to sanitation by half, is the goal furthest behind, so we need to show world leaders that much more needs to be done. If you give a shit about eradicating open defecation, add your name to our global petition, started by our friends at End Water Poverty. 900,000 people have already added their voice but we need over 1 million signatures so that we can show decision makers there is a global demand for everyone to have access to water and sanitation. Giving your voice to the 2.5 billion people without access to a toilet will keep our UN representatives accountable to their commitment. This is epic.

So far, Global Citizens took over 50,000 actions urging members of Congress to support efforts to provide safe drinking water and proper sanitation. Add your voice to the movement, and sign the petition at the top right of this page..