Public health implications of public toilet congestion
Public toilet
Shahana Akhtar is an employee of a private multimedia company, working in the marketing department. And for her work, she has to be outside most of the day. Recently she is suffering from a urine infection. Often, she is affected by this disease. she often holds his urine due to the inadequacy of public toilets, mainly due to being outside for long periods. The doctor told her that it was the cause of his urine infection.
There are currently more than 6.5 core women and men working in the country. The average rate is 70 percent for men and 30 percent for women. But still, women's public toilets are not being increased compared to that. It is estimated that there are about 50 lakh workers in Dhaka. But compared to that in this city of traffic congestion, public toilets are still lacking.
And the public toilets in the city that have been made by the city corporation have a shortage of various amenities including cleanliness, which women are mostly reluctant to use. Talking to many women in the city about this, they say so.
Ayesha Haque is a housewife, she has to travel from Notunbazar to Bashundhara every day to bring her daughter to school. she had to sit in the car for a long time in a traffic jam. And when she caught urine, she held it. While sharing her Eid shopping experience, she said that while using a public toilet, she found a man in charge which she found uncomfortable. she even talked about the lack of cleanliness in the toilet.
Not only the cities but also the rural areas have further deteriorated. The provision of public toilets for women during long journeys is negligible.
In this regard, Ferdusi Begum, working in a Plan International NGO, said that the problem of public toilets is a long-standing one that should be solved now. she said that it is important to have toilets for both men and women every 5 kilometers in the city.
Doctors say, holding the toilet and urine for a long time causes women to suffer from various physical complications. They said that not only women, but men can also suffer from various complications including urinary tract infections.
"The most common cause of this is a urinary tract infection, or UTI, which is called a urinary tract infection. It's from bacteria that grow in the bladder when you hold urine for too long. It then creates other problems. For example, if someone has a UTI repeatedly, it's a female reproductive tract. can hurt power."
According to Doctor, urine contains toxins like urea and amino acids.
As a result, long-term retention can lead to toxic substances reaching the kidneys and forming kidney stones. In the big cities of the country including Dhaka, the incidence of this disease is increasing among both men and women.
"Also, holding back urine can cause the bladder to swell. Also, if someone has pre-existing kidney problems and holds back regularly, their kidneys will gradually begin to lose function."
Because of this, various types of infections including blood infections can occur.
Dr. says that simply holding the toilet can cause breathing problems and bacterial infections. heaven
Besides, a person can also experience severe pain while urinating.
Women's organizations and social scientists say that working women and students in urban areas in Bangladesh mainly hold down the toilet when they go out. It is not only the inadequacy of public toilets on the streets that is responsible for this. Inadequacy of toilets especially in public places like workplaces, shopping malls, hospitals, or parks is responsible.
On the surface, it can be seen that the daily movement of about 5 million people in this city is completely negligible in public toilets. In many areas, mismanagement and indifference are also observed. And since the toilet is far away, the city commuters are not getting this proper civic service.
Water Aid, a non-governmental organization, has developed a smartphone-based application to provide information on public toilets across the country. In this app, information on the four main national highways of the country and public toilets located in Dhaka is available. In this app, the location and facilities of public toilets can be known through the user's GPS location or direct search. In this regard, Water Aid program manager (Urban Wash) Babul Bala said, by ensuring the facilities of public toilets nationwide, the organization is working with the city corporation and local administration to construct and renovate public toilets. However, he commented that City Corporation toilets have become more commercial than ensuring civic amenities. He also said, 'We have seen on the ground that most of the toilets do not have adequate water and electronic facilities, besides, many times women feel uncomfortable there.
Mobile toilets are seen in different places of the city which are not at all suitable for use by women. Most of them lie in useless, abandoned conditions.
In this regard, the two city corporations said that the number of public toilets has increased compared to earlier and more construction is underway.
