SIERRA: So, World Toilet Day is coming up and the response to hearing that there is a serious UN-sponsored day for toilets might make people laugh, or feel a little iffy on discussing it. So why would we need a day like that?
Brooke YAMAKOSHI: Well, what would you do if you didn't have a toilet?
Fair point. This is Brooke Yamakoshi. She is a water, sanitation, and hygiene specialist at the United Nations Children's Fund, also known as UNICEF, based in New York. She knows a lot about toilets.
YAMAKOSHI: I mean, the ability to manage our bodily functions, and these things that we frequently don't talk about, but are so core to us, bodily functions of urination, defecation, and for half the population, menstruation. It's really at the core of our dignity. It's also a foundation for health. Without a toilet that contains waste, and then separates it from people coming in contact with that waste, we would all be exposed to harmful pathogens that cause many different illnesses and diseases. And it doesn't stop at the toilet either. So without waste being safely transported away from our toilets and from our homes and treated somewhere, we would all be surrounded by wastewater in our neighborhoods and in the environment.