In a quirky take on disease awareness, and to mark the official national launch, Crohn’s and Colitis New Zealand (CCNZ) in association with Abbott are publishing a "Toilet Map".

The map is intended for sufferers of Crohn’s Disease and Colitis, as finding the nearest available toilet can often be a critical situation. The disease affects both young and old, but typically strikes people in the prime of their lives between ages 15 – 35. A Toilet Map also offers utility to people with various other conditions.

CCNZ launched to support the 15,000 Kiwis living with the diseases. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of Crohn’s Disease in the world. The Toilet Map was unveiled at its launch (in several forms) and will be a tool to drive fundraising.

CCNZ hostes a function at Parliament with key government figures to mark the launch of the new group and its new maps.

The group wanted to launch a Toilet Map website and iPhone app to help patients (and anyone!) locate nearby toilets. With generous support from Abbott the Toilet Map website was created. This is an online resource to help anyone find nearby toilets and will be self-funding in the future through some advertising content.

Abbott, Ceiba Solutions (a New Zealand company that develops IT solutions for Life Sciences) and Modica (digital media developer) paired up to voluntarily develop the iPhone Toilet Map app for iPhone.

The CCNZ says this seemed like a logical step to all involved as the mapping and GPS technology exists to give users real-time info on nearby toilets when the user is out and about.

New Zealand mapping services Geosmart has donated its maps to the effort. These maps have basic toilet information for over a thousand public toilets. The plan is to upgrade the free launch version with a later version having additional toilets, facility information and the capability for users to add toilets. This premium version would work as a fundraising tool for CCNZ.