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The Tragedy of Death by Diarrhea

By mementomori on October 16, 2007.

"India to host world toilet summit"

The next time you find yourself kvetching about someone misplacing the television remote, or a spot on your collar, or the spaghetti being lukewarm, or $3 a gallon gasoline, or your favorite team playing like a rafter of turkeys, or Junior failing to put the pizza in the fridge whilst you and the spousey were out puttin' on the Ritz, keep this in mind: 2.6 billion of Earth's human inhabitants have to move their bowels without the benefit of a flushable toilet. Now that's something to raise a stink over.

An estimated 2.6 billion people have no access to a proper toilet, according to the World Health Organization. More than half of them live in India or China. Defecating in the open can contaminate water supplies and spread diseases such as diarrhea, which kill many thousands of people every year.

Health and sanitation experts from 40 countries will meet in New Delhi later this month for the seventh World Toilet Summit to find ways to provide toilets for everyone by 2025.

Wastewater-related illnesses have and continue to be a major public health problem. Perhaps our friends in such vibrant areas as London forget that their fair city was once a fetid, cholera-infested cesspool. The advent of modern sanitation has greatly reduced (although not completely eradicated) outbreaks of infections related to excreta, to the point that we all flush without a thought of the consequences of the alternative to a properly functioning toilet.

It is estimated that 2.1 million children worldwide die each year from diarrhea. Let's hope that the seventh World Toilet Summit produces a well-formed plan to deposit lavatories far and wide, rather than just more effluvia of empty promises. Maybe a courageous visionary, inspired by the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a hectoring pseudo-eschatologist, will roll up his or her sleeves and make the goal of saving children's lives their mission in life. When that person comes forward and asks, "Will you help?" I hope many are listening.

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There are many parts of India, as well as much of Africa, where water is already in desperately short supply, just for drinking and cooking. In such areas, flush toilets are a losing proposition to begin with. Composting toilets are probably the best solution in such areas.

Then again, there's the question of the impact on the world's forests from producing toilet paper for another 2.6 billion people.

Not to mention all the trees killed for extra bathroom reading material.

By cindyloowho (not verified) on 16 Oct 2007 #permalink

Thanks for putting our little problems in perspective. The lack of access to water and sanitation is a justice issue. I was fortunate to visit the traveling exhibit, A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City, set up by Doctors Without Borders, the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize winner. In addition to setting up cholera treatment centers, MSF's first objective include clean water and the careful deployment of latrines. Not glamorous, but lifesaving.

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/education/refugeecamp/home/