AMR Industry Alliance and Toilet Board Coalition Launch Toolkit: “The Sanitation Fight Against AMR”
Toolkit intended to empower local sanitation businesses in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
Geneva, Switzerland – 7 September 2023 – The AMR Industry Alliance, together with The Toilet Board Coalition, launched a toolkit to provide public toilet owners, operators and users with the tools necessary to understand and mitigate the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spreading through public sanitation. The toolkit, “The Sanitation Fight Against AMR,” will amplify awareness of AMR and its dangers and reduce the spread of infection through proper sanitation and hygiene practices.
“The fight against AMR is all encompassing. We must create more awareness of the role proper sanitation plays in curbing AMR, especially for the nearly half of humans plagued by insufficient access to proper sanitation. This toolkit is an important step forward in the fight against AMR.”
Melissa Gong Mitchell, Secretariat Lead of the AMR Industry Alliance.
“Public toilet owners and operators are a frontline of defense against the spread of AMR and a powerful tool in hygiene education. With the AMR Industry Alliance, we saw the potential to bring together the expertise and strength of our two networks and build a plug-and-play toolkit that equips local small and medium-sized enterprises to strengthen their activities around hygiene and AMR prevention.”
Alex Knezovich, Managing Director – Engagement at the Toilet Board Coalition
“The Sanitation Fight Against AMR” offers toilet owners and operators checklists to adopt safe hygiene practices and a flyer to use in their toilet space for user education. The toolkit is translatable into local languages and designed to integrate seamlessly into operations.
Poor sanitation and hygiene practices in public toilets contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections, as they are easily transmitted through fecal matter and other bodily fluids. In fact, just a gram of feces can contain up to 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria, 1,000 parasitic cysts, and 100 parasitic eggs. Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces and 3.5 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation.[1],[2] Universal access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and hygiene would reduce the global disease burden by 10%.[3]
Safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) reduce the risks of getting bacterial infections, which are usually treated with antibiotics. Access to WASH in communities prevents infection and can eliminate 60 percent of WASH-related antibiotic use. The UN has identified WASH as critical to the Sustainable Development Goals, and will drive progress of its 2030 Agenda, particularly in health, gender equality, and livelihoods. To download the toolkit, please go to the AMR Sanitation Toolkit
About the AMR Industry Alliance
The AMR Industry Alliance is one of the largest private sector coalitions set up to provide sustainable solutions to curb antimicrobial resistance, with over 100 biotechnology, diagnostics, generics, and research-based pharmaceutical companies and associations joining forces. It facilitates collaboration, reports on the industry’s contribution to the fight against AMR and engages with external stakeholders.
About the Toilet Board Coalition
Founded in 2015, the Toilet Board Coalition accelerates business solutions to the sanitation crisis. The Coalition facilitates partnerships between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), corporates, NGOs, investors and governments, who share a commitment towards sanitation for all by 2030 (SDG 6.2). Its world-renowned Accelerator for Sanitation Economy entrepreneurs offers business model design, corporate mentorship and access to investment. The Coalition has graduated 58 SMEs to date, impacting 2.4 million people daily and unlocking US$22 million in finance. Its 80+ Members’ approach to sanitation leads to innovation in toilet design, circular recovery of biological resources and smart digital technologies. The Toilet Board Coalition is steered by leading Members: Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, LIXIL, USAID and Aqua for All.
The Toilet Board Coalition and its work is made possible by the generous support of its Membership. The contents are the responsibility of the Toilet Board Coalition and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Members.
[1] WHO. “Fact Sheets: Drinking Water.” (2019). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water
[2] WHO/UNICEF. “Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: Special focus on gender.” (2023). https://www.unwater.org/publications/who/unicef-joint-monitoring-program-update-report-2023
[3] WHO. “Fact Sheets: Drinking Water.” (2019). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water
