FYI: The developing world's toilet crisis

The Gates Foundation recently announced a contest to create an innovative toilet. No, the purpose isn't to produce a new, shiny apparatus for your bathroom. Rather, the Gates Foundation wants to address the world's toilet crisis: 40% of the world's population still have no access to toilets.

Here is a roundup of why having access to a toilet is so important:


Health:

• 2.6 billion people have no access to a toilet. Of this group, 75% live in rural areas.
• Poor sanitation can lead to diarrhea. 2.2 million people die from diarrhoeal diseases every year, according to WHO.
• Diarrhoeal diseases are the second most common cause of death in children under five. 88% of these deaths were caused by lack of sanitation, poor hygiene practices and contaminated drinking water.
• Intestinal worms are also a problem for those who lack proper sanitation facilities. Children in poor environments often carry 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at a time. 
• Getting sick from poor hygiene and sanitation means a loss of income for families, missed school, and extra expenditure on medications.

Social development:

• Schools in the developing world are often built without toilets and washrooms. This is one reason why teenage girls often drop out of school as there are no private places to change menstruation cloths/napkins.
• Many women walk to remote areas to defecate and often face the risk of violence at nighttime.

Environment:

• 90% of human excrement end up untreated in rivers in the developing world. 
• Sewage dumped at sea or carried upstream by rivers increases the level of nitrogen in bodies of water, leading to the loss of aquatic life.

Watch Current TV's Adam Yamaguchi travel around Asia, detailing the problems and solutions associated with the world's toilet crisis: