Seriously Dirty

Some 2.5 billion people worldwide lack access to adequate sanitation. This risks their health, strips their dignity and kills 1.8 million people – mostly children – each year.

To mark World Toilet Day 2009 PooP Creative has released the comedy feature Seriously Dirty for online viewing. Presented by Dr Phil Hammond and filmed at The Golden Poo Awards on Global Handwashing Day (October 15th 2009), the film incorporates award-winning animated films about hygiene and sanitation.

Seriously Dirty uses humour to challenge taboos and to raise awareness about the profound impact of inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene practice on individual and community health. The simple act of handwashing with soap at critical moments throughout daily life – after going to the toilet, cleaning a child or before preparing and eating food – is the cheapest and most effective way to prevent infectious disease. Closely linked is the lack of adequate sanitation – particularly in the developing world – which is estimated to be the biggest cause of world disease and as a result, is a profound barrier to education and economic development.

Phil Hammond delivers a hilarious, inspired, edgy– and often provocative – take on the theme of Poo, while the animated films featured (which were short-listed from a competition launched by The London International Animation Festival (LIAF) in association with PooP Creative) demonstrate an impressive example of how the creative community can successfully contribute to hard-hitting campaigns about serious issues.

Both Global Handwashing Day and World Toilet highlight these pertinent issues and encourage individuals, communities and politicians to raise hygiene education and sanitation provision to the top of the public health agenda.