CONTENTS NATION BUSINESS WORLD

13
The unglamorous toilet needs a makeover,
says Bill Gates.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
recenLIy unnounced US$q.1 mIIIIon In grunL
money to improve basic sanitation facilities
for the worlds poor. The amount includes
US$3 million to support the Reinvent the
Toilet Challenge for universities around the
world to develop sustainable latrine systems.
TIe ounduLIon Is hnuncIng eIIorLs by eight
universities in Britain, Canada, Holland,
Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, and
the United States to create toilet designs
appropriate for most parts of the developing
world. The toilets should not require piped-
in water, a sewer connection, or outside
electricity. They should cost a person only
US$o.o u duy Lo use. TIey sIouId be cupubIe
of generating energy and recovering water,
salt, and other nutrients.
So far, promising designs have included a
toilet that produces clean water, biological
cIurcouI, und mIneruIs; u LoIIeL LIuL IuncLIons
as an electricity generator, a solar-powered
toilet, and a community bathroom block that
recovers water and carbon dioxide from urine.

Why redesign the toilet? Why is Bill Gates
so interested in remaking the toilet?
A Billionaires Challenge:
The Great Toilet Makeover
By Tanya L. Mariano
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Why is Bill Gates interested in remaking the toilet?
A billionaires challenge: The great toilet makeover
CONTENTS NATION BUSINESS WORLD
14
Various histories of the usI LoIIeL,
including a scholarly paper from the Sulabh
International Museum of Toilets, amply
demonstrate that people have long known
of the need for devices for receiving and
disposing of human waste. Several accounts
suggesL LIuL oIdesL exumpIe oI usIIng LoIIeLs
could date back to Crete between 3,000 and
1,oo B.C.
TIe Iorerunner oI LIe modern LoIIeL wus hrsL
puLenLed In EngIund In LIe IuLe 18LI cenLury.
This invention sparked a sanitary revolution
of waterborne sewage systems that have
saved hundreds of millions of lives by keeping
communities safe from diseases, says
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, head of the Gates
Foundations Global Development Program,
in a speech during the AfricaSan3 Conference
in Kigali, Rwanda.
And yet, today, according to data from the
World Health Organization and Unicef, some
z.6 bIIIIon peopIe-neurIy qo% oI LIe worId`s
population, most of them in Asia and Sub-
Saharan Africastill lack access to improved
sunILuLIon, und 1.1 bIIIIon sLIII deIecuLe In LIe
open.
To address this unhealthy, even life-
LIreuLenIng dehcIency, u SIngupore Lycoon,
Jack Sim, set up the World Toilet Organization
In zoo1, wIIcI wIII IoId LIe World Toilet
Summit in November in Hainan, China.
The Gates Foundation has now joined this
sunILuLIon und IeuILI crusude. TIIs 1-mInuLe
Flash video in the foundation website presents
an engaging case for reinventing the toilet:
Missing the U.N. sanitation target.
Among ILs LurgeLs Ior zo1, LIe United Nations
Millennium Development Goals seeks to cut
by half the proportion of the global population
without access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation. According to the U.N. MDG zo1o
report, the world is on track to surpass the
target for drinking water, but will fall short
sIgnIhcunLIy in terms of improved sanitation
facilities.
If the sluggish rate of progress continues, the
number of people lacking access to improved
sanitation will actually increase to an estimated
z.; bIIIIon Irom zoo8 Lo zo1. TIe U.N.
Development Programme hnds wIde regIonuI
disparities, with the majority of populations in
South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania
enjoying least access, as the zo1o UNDP
Human Development Report as well as country
statistics show.
The contrasting progress in drinking water is
consistent with the historically low demand
among policymakers for investing in sanitation
systems. In a survey of 38 developing
countries, the WHO found that half continues
to lack an investment program for sanitation.
A 2008 World Bank study says this is because
policymakers in these countries have a poor
understanding of the economic and social
benehLs oI IIgIer spendIng on sunILuLIon.
The double threat of population growth and
climate change, and the absence of demand for
toilets in some populations (see box on Going
beyond subsidies on the next page), make it
all but certain that the world will not reach the
MDG sunILuLIon LurgeL Ior zo1.