Last week, after a lovely summer picnic in the countryside, I had to look for a good place to pee: a spot where my delicate bum would be safe from the gaze of fellow tourists, nasty bugs and other nuisances. I paused to think about those who must always pee in the woods, in a field, on a rock, a train track, or in the street. Far from the adventurous charm of the occasional outdoors wee, nearly half of the world's population has no access to proper water sanitation. That's according to the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), a Singapore-based NGO dedicated to improving toilets and sanitation worldwide.

On 19 November, the WTO is coordinating a new edition of its yearly World Toilet Day to raise awareness about the problem. The tone is serious with a good dose of humour, and the WTO is present on all Twitter, Facebook and other www canals to spread the word. (Last year, the event was sponsored by Unilever.) Local organisations organise fun events from Bangladesh to the UK, via Kenya and Sweden; check out their website to find out more.

World Toilet Day's flagship event is called The Big Squat, inviting everybody in the world (be they at the office, on the street, at the library) to squat for the cause. "Simply squat for one minute in a highly visible location, and then have a plan to explain to anyone who notices WHY you're all squatting." Poor sanitation kills thousands of people every day, in particular because of diarrhoeal infections that could be easily avoided through better water sanitation and hygiene.

What's more, squatting has even harsher consequences for women than for men: males can pee easily without undressing or squatting, while many women are forced to hold it to pee and poop in the fields in the dark - which is not only inconvenient and unfair, but can also cause additional health problems and puts women in an uncomfortable, vulnerable position.

On a more practical note, the WTO also set up the World Toilet Summit (hosted this year by the American Society of Plumbing Engineers in Philadelphia from 30 October till 3 November). I quite like their unashamed business mindset: rather than lingering on the tragic fate of the 2.6 billion people who have no access to sanitation, the conference sees them as 2.6 billion business opportunities. "The poor have been buying more hand phones than toilets, which is causing the developed world to realize that there is a tremendous market for goods and services at the bottom of the economic pyramid. The purchasing power of the poor has been increasing with the availability of improved access to financing, as well as better market data that results in fairer prices for products." The programme includes sessions about innovative toilet design, micro financing and green plumbing.

(Also, for more information about healthy, environmentally sound outdoors crapping, check out Kathleen Meyer's 1989 best-seller How to Shit in the Woods. Apparently, it's a must-read for boy- and girlscouts.)