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Believe it or not toilets can be a tough sell. At least that was the perception of Mitchell Koss, writing in the Los Angeles Times. But Koss said it is a health issue that doesn’t get much attention and yet has an inexpensive solution, unlike malnutrition and malaria.
Koss writes that in March when he was in India with two colleagues they were at first repulsed by the evidence of public defecation, but then quickly grew to accept and ignore it.
This acceptance makes it easy for governments to do little about the issue and hard to change social norms.
One shocking fact about the country to Westerners is the notion that India, a country with a nuclear bomb, has more cell phones than toilets.
Koss reports he visited one New Dehli two story brick house, with a washing machine, stove and TV, but only an open field to use as a toilet.
Possible solutions include a “No toilet, no bride” campaign that tries to shame men into investing in indoor plumbing.
And a businessman from Singapore founded the World Toilet Organization and says that he is looking for the “Angelina Jolie of toilets” to help his cause – presumably Jolie already said no to that role.
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