Devex: The sanitation challenge: What’s next after toilets?
Brian Arbogast, director of the water, sanitation, and hygiene program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“…[The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is] supporting work that includes the development of the next generation of toilets that are cheap to run without the need for sewer or water connections, and low-cost approaches to treating fecal sludge that results in usable products, such as energy or fertilizers. … [S]uch investment in sanitation will deliver an immediate return in improved health, a better environment, and increased productivity. … [W]hile sanitation may never be a glamorous subject, without it our wider hopes for development cannot be achieved. It is the key to healthier and more sustainable and resilient cities — and World Toilet Day reminds us that such goals need to be talked about openly, not treated as taboo” (11/18).

The Guardian: World Toilet Day 2015: the fight for global access to effective sanitation
Hannah Greig, private sector adviser at WaterAid U.K.

“…[I]t makes business sense to invest in effective sanitation … The corporate world has a valuable role to play [in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals] by ensuring their employees have access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in the workplace; respecting the human right to water and sanitation; integrating water, sanitation, and hygiene into water stewardship; and looking at their responsibility to help improve public health through good sanitation in the communities in which they work. … Everyone has a right to a safe, private place to relieve themselves, and to live healthy and productive lives without the threat of illness from poor sanitation and hygiene…” (11/19).

The Conversation: Gender equality comes one toilet at a time
Marni Sommer, associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, and Bethany Caruso, Phd student in public health at Emory University

“…[W]hile everyone needs access to proper sanitation to be healthy, for girls and women this is also an issue of safety and equal participation in society. … Very often women have the primary responsibility for health, hygiene, and sanitation for their family. Lack of access to sanitation (and water) impacts not only a woman’s health, but that of her whole family. … If we were to assure that all girls and women (and boys and men) had access to toilets that were safe, accessible, and comfortable, we expect that the world would see improvements in health, in educational outcomes, and productivity. Not to mention we would achieve every human’s basic human right to sanitation” (11/19).