Study: Over 30% of Romanian children live in households without indoor toilet

More than 30% of Romanian children live in households without indoor toilet, according to the "Child welfare in rural areas" research report made in 2018 by the World Vision Romania Foundation, local Agerpres reported. The European Union average is 2.6%.

The same report revealed that one in five children who do not have indoor sanitary facilities don’t wash their hands after using the toilet.

At the same time, a report of the Ministry of Education showed that, three years ago, 2,219 schools in Romania didn’t have indoor sanitary facilities. Moreover, in 2018, 1,489 schools and kindergartens were operating with non-compliant sanitary facilities. At the beginning of spring 2019, 1,180 schools were still in the same situation.

“Unfortunately, the lack of access to hygiene products and health education are problems that our country has been facing for a long time. The subject returned to the public attention these days due to the cases of coronavirus, but we once again draw attention to the need for long-term health education in Romania, a country where many rural schools still lack indoor running water and toilets. Soap does not exist in even more schools and kindergartens, and the situation is perpetuating in the households of these children, who do not have the financial resources to buy basic products such as soap,” said Mihaela Nabăr, executive director of World Vision Romania.

“Poor hygiene is a continuous source of disease in disadvantaged communities,” she added.

In 2018, about 13.5 million people were served by the public water supply system, representing 69.4% of the resident population of Romania. The share in the rural areas was even lower - only 35.3% of the resident population.

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