To mark World Toilet Day (19 November) Grohe parent company LIXIL has driven awareness through a social media awareness campaign #whereisthetoilet.
The cost of poor sanitation is a heavy one to bear for families and developing economies, it said, with approximately 800 children under the age of five losing their life every day due to diarrhea diseases caused by unsanitary conditions.
It said the number remains the same since 2016, and poor sanitation cost the world $230 billion in 2015. The problem is so significant that the UN made achieving equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030 one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the company added.
As part of LIXIL’s own sustainability goals, it is now committed to improving the livelihood of 100 million people through improved hygiene and sanitation by 2025.
“What began in 2016 with a single inspirational idea and a solution called SATO has today expanded into LIXIL’s own international and fully operational social enterprise. We are proud that we have been able to assist 15 million people gain access to a sanitary toilet so far, and that we are taking a business focused approach that will eventually see SATO break even and be self-sustaining,” said Jin Montesano, chief public affairs officer of LIXIL.
By October 2019, approximately 3 million SATO toilet pans and stools had been installed in 27 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.