Toilet twinning at number 10

According to a 2008 survey, our toilet habits in the UK are fairly limited: reading, texting and thinking about food.

But today is a special day, and as it's World Toilet day, this is a chance to remind our leaders that we have a desperately long way to go before we deliver the Millennium Development Goal on water and sanitation. It's an outrage that a third of the world's population (2.5 billion people) do not have a safe place to go to the toilet. I found this little film to illustrate the desperate need.

On top of the 900 million who don't have access to clean water, the recent events in Haiti have compounded relief efforts to keep survivors alive after the earthquake in January and the hurricane Tomas. We're still hearing stories in the news of the cholera epidemic, which now threatens to spread to the Dominican Republic. Read more from the Beeb.

But there is something we can do. The diseases that spread through the lack of clean water and sanitation are easily preventable. We just need to commit resources to water and hygiene education, and urge governments to help communities have access to clean water and have a decent place to go to the toilet. Today, we're asking David Cameron to decorate his own WC with a lovely new accessory - to twin Number 10 with a toilet in Burundi. Please join with us and encourage him to do this.

Or if you'd like to do more and are feeling flush, visit WaterAid's rather nice gift shop. It's a great place to get some inspiration for Christmas...