How access to sanitation boosts health, safety, and more
Despite having various names, including the loo, the WC, the lavatory, the privy, and the porcelain god, the toilet is one of the most commonplace items in life and is essential to civilization.
However, the issue of not having access to even a rudimentary pit latrine—which affects almost a third of the world’s population—may worsen. According to recent statistical research, there will be 11 billion people on the planet by the year 2100. Therefore, here are five ways that toilets improve the world, from promoting education to reducing illness:
1. Keeping people healthy
According to this article, improperly disposed human waste can result in serious illnesses. People who lack access to toilets commonly defecate outside, frequently close to residential areas or rivers that provide water for bathing or drinking. For example, the World Health Organization estimates that every minute, 290,000 gallons, or 1.1 million liters, of raw sewage enter India’s Ganges River.
Diarrheal diseases like cholera are brought on by contaminated water and affect a large number of individuals chronically. A fatal cholera outbreak that left over 25,000 people sick and over 392 people dead occurred in 2012 as a result of latrines in Sierra Leone and Guinea flooding due to heavy rains, according to news reports.
Fecal contamination-related diseases also result in stunted growth, low birth weight, malnourishment, and cognitive issues. Two out of the three main preventable causes of death for children under five are related to poor sanitation.
2. Preventing blindness
The primary cause of preventable blindness, trachoma, is spread by flies that only lay eggs on human feces. The bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, which also causes the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia, is the cause of the illness. The disease can be spread by flies and contact with an infected person’s ocular discharge.
The World Health Organization estimates that 21.4 million people worldwide suffer from trachoma. Approximately 2.2 million of them are blind, while 1.2 million are visually impaired.
3. Keeping women safe
Women who live in areas without restrooms have to go farther to relieve themselves, which puts them at risk for sexual assault. Many women use “flying toilets”—basically, plastic bags they store in their homes—to minimize that risk. Flying toilets are an ideal habitat for pathogenic microorganisms, including the bacteria that cause trachoma.
4. Promoting school attendance
It’s still taboo to discuss toilet issues in many countries, especially with women. If the facility does not have private restrooms, young girls may decide not to go to school, which eventually restricts their access to education.
However, it’s not always an easy fix. As an example, some humanitarian workers have proposed building public restrooms. In November 2008, however, men were twice as likely as women to use the toilet blocks that had been built in Bhopal, India, as part of research.
5. Saving energy
The biomechanical energy in toilet waste is approximately ten times greater than the energy required to treat it. To recover drinking water and save energy, scientists and engineers are creating new methods of processing wastewater.
To develop sanitary waterless toilets that don’t require energy or a sewer connection and would cost less than five cents per user per day, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge.
A toilet has, therefore, several purposes beyond just holding waste.
