Development Minister Champions Toilet Twinning

Cord’s Toilet Twinning Campaign won backing from Whitehall today (Wednesday) when International Development Minister Mike Foster opened a new toilet block at Worcester Cathedral.

All three state of the art loos at Cathedral Green- the gents, ladies and disabled – have been twinned with a latrine in Burundi, providing sanitation for families returning from exile in Tanzania to find their land and homes destroyed by years of civil war.

Mr Foster, who has special responsibility for sanitation at the Government department, said Toilet Twinning was a great idea.

‘Decent sanitation is the bedrock of a good society,’ he added. ‘Yet sadly the Millennium Goal for giving the world basic toilet provision by 2015 is way behind schedule and won’t be met for at least a hundred years from now.

‘The reality is that more children are dying from diarrhoeal disease than from HIV or malaria, ’he added. ‘I applaud Cord and Toilet Twinning for raising awareness of this huge global problem and the Cathedral for supporting it financially.’

Hundreds of Twinners worldwide have paid £60 to twin their loo with one deep in the African bush- receiving a picture of their exclusive ‘twin’ to hang in their smallest room, complete with coordinates to track it down via Google Earth.

Pictured: The Dean of Worcester, the Very Reverend Peter Atkinson (left) & Mike Foster MP, Minister for International Development - toilet twinning at Worcester Cathedral.  (Picture copyright Cord)