That poop emoji app isn’t just for sh**s and giggles.
To raise awareness for World Toilet Day, WaterAid created a free app that allows you to take the traditional smiling poop emoji, and customize your own.
Once you’ve had your fun, you’re given the option to donate to the cause, and of course, share your creation. The more you make and share, the more colours and add-ons you unlock.
These poop cartoons are cute, but they are meant to be ambassadors of a global public health issue. The goal is to get people worldwide to #GiveAShit about toilet access.
Risk of disease, pollution
According to a report released Thursday by WaterAid, more than 650 million people don’t have access to clean water, and more than 2.3 billion don’t have access to a “safe, private toilet.”
Of them, about one billion people have to do their business in the open. With that comes risk of pollution, since there’s no centralized spot for this human waste. Women are vulnerable and at risk of harassment and and abuse and kids get sick.
Illnesses like diarrhea, malaria and intestinal worms spread more easily and malnutrition affects more children as these diseases affect their appetite. An estimated 361,000 children under the age of five die every year due to poor sanitation.
Women who aren’t in good health when they give birth are at higher risk of giving birth to unhealthy babies, or dying during childbirth.
WaterAid’s report identifies South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, as the place with the least access to household sanitation. But Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Russia and Sweden are listed as having measurable numbers without access to household toilets as well.
The UN has come together to compile a list of goals for sustainable development. Number six promises access to sanitation by 2030.
So make make your own poop emoji and show you #GiveAShit.
