Ciarrai Walsh passed on this Time Magazine article about Bill Gates seeing the light of improving sanitation as one of the most effective ways to save lives in the world: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2082509,00.html?artId=2082509?contType=article?chn=world
Ten years ago, I wrote to the Gates Foundation to suggest it focus on sanitation as a cheaper and effective way to reduce child mortality, especially as compared to vaccines. I’m certainly not saying I’m responsible for the Foundation’s new focus, but it does bring a smile. Alas, Gates seems to think sanitation is about designing a better toilet—a technology challenge. Yet better toilets exist worldwide (including some for which his Foundation is devoting research funding as if they are new technologies). The real need is better decisionmaking processes, laws, and implementation programs. Or in Microsoft language: Software, not hardware. I hope Gates catches up with best practices in the sanitation and water transformation space and leaves behind its “better mousetrap” focus.