Will education be the key to the Third World's health problems?

“Curmudge, it’s hard for me to forget about the problems of that Third World country that was our imaginary destination a few weeks ago. Wouldn’t the people’s lives be better if they could somehow get an education?”

“Jaded Julie, it depends on their culture and ultimately, on their government. With their hanging latrine, the people we visited were already one rung up on the sanitation ladder. I’m sure you recall that 2.6 billion people don’t even have a basic latrine, and many of those folks might not even appreciate the value of one. So the first step in education would be to put sanitation in the mindset of the populace.”

“What about formal education like reading and writing?”

“The dominant belief in some cultures is that women should not be educated. So in those locations at least half of their intellectual capital is wasted. Fortunately those children who are able to attend school will eventually be able to interact with their government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to learn about developing clean water systems and basic sanitary facilities.”

“So, Curmudge, how might they obtain clean water?”

“It depends on the locale. They might dig a well or collect rainwater. Even in the U.S., my mother and her sisters used water from the rain barrel to wash their hair; it was softer than the spring water that they drank. Surface water in the Third World would have to be purified to make it safe. That could be done inexpensively by filtration through a ceramic cone or treatment with Clorox or similar chemicals. A solar still should be adequate to produce drinking water for a small family.”

“What about sanitation? There must be something for undeveloped countries that is better than that hanging latrine that we saw.”

“There are several systems, Julie, including composting pit latrines and their commercial version, the Ecosan waterless toilet. We needn’t discuss operational details other than to say that they are simple and should be inexpensive. I’ve seen these, fitted with solar panels, in national parks in the U.S.”

“We’ve done it, Curmudge. We’ve solved the water and sanitation problems of the Third World, at least theoretically. So everyone should live happily ever after.”

“It’s not necessarily so, Jaded Julie. Governments or ethnic groups can come along and turn everything we’ve said on its head. We’ll talk about that next time. You won’t like the story.”