Don't Eat Shit.

Vanguard's "The World's Toilet Crisis"

I remember my first health training session in Tanzania, with my Peace Corps Medical Officer Edith Mpangala, who told us to avoid disease simply, "Don't eat shit!". An important issue in development today, open defecation is very much a part of life in third-world countries. Vanguard's documentary "The World's Toilet Crisis" illustrates that billions around the world lack toilets and that a main cause of death in the third-world today is not related to AIDS, TB, or malaria, but from the spread of infectious disease related to poop. In my experience in Tanzania, I noticed the lack of toilets, toilet paper (most use water or leaves), lack of hand washing with soap after (spreading poop through food preparation, hand-shaking, etc), and also communal eating (washing usually with only water).

Although statisticians and scholars have show a loose link to poverty and terrorism, I would theorize that there may be a link between health, human dignity, and insurgency within communities. (Insurgents may be providing this infrastructure and goods that communities are lacking and terrorists may be angered by the state of their homeland's infrastructure.)I have read it estimated that the US will lose billions of dollars in counter terrorism operations due to these such health related disease.

Additionally, Vanguard's documentary shows how educational seminars and positive reinforcement can be used toward behavior change in communities to end "open defecation". Organizations have made it "cool" to have a toilet. They provide people with education for behavioral change in their community, a reason why to end open defecation (explaining the health repercussions for the water supply, environment, and people), provide affordable infrastructure, and certificate and pride to show to their community that they are the proud owners of a toilet. Increasing the use of toilets and sanitation also provides sustainable jobs in these communities through installation, draining and transport of sewage, as well as the growing use of human waste to create organic fertilizer.

Please watch this amazing documentary and decide for yourself whether there may ultimately be a connection between terrorism and development. Regardless, if my theories are correct, after my experiences in Tanzania and watching this documentary, I will never take my toilet for granted again.