How Toilets Changed History and Became One of the Most Important Modern Medical Advancements

Toilets have had a profound impact on how humans poop, but also to their health overall as they help fight preventable diseases like typhoid, dysentery, and cholera. Toilets and their place in medical history are the subject of a collaboration between the PBS Digital Studios series It’s Okay To Be Smart and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The video tries to raise awareness of the people around the world without access to toilets or clean water.

We’re proud to collaborate with Bill and Melinda Gates for this week’s video! It may sometimes seem like things are getting worse, but there’s lots of reasons to be optimistic about the future. More people have access to toilets and sanitation than ever before. Thanks to public health improvements like this, since 1990, 122 million children’s lives have been saved. Diseases like polio are nearing eradication. Women have more access to health care and education than ever before.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has released the annual letter, which this year was addressed to Warren Buffett who donated a substantial amount of his fortune to the foundation in 2006.