| Porthole 16 May 13

NOT exactly the greatest award to win.
North Tarawa beach in the small Pacific
island nation of Kiribati has been declared
the Pacific’s first ODF – which stands for
Open Defecation-Free island.
The “recognition” was bestowed by
UNICEF on the island’s Northern beach,
however only about 5000 of the country’s
101,000 people live there.
Open Defecation has been a long-term
problem on Kiribati, with the unsanitary
practice resulting in high levels of illness.
A spokesman for UNICEF said the title
should serve as a goal for the entire nation
to become “ODF” entirely, while the
country’s president has set a target date of
Dec 2015 for the whole country to be ODF.