A new national holiday? My vote's for World Toilet Day

Nov. 19, 2009, was World Toilet Day. Before you say, "Who cares?" and flush that idea, consider this: The lack of access to toilets is one of the world's most pressing health problems. And it's a problem that has long been recognized by physicians and other health experts around the world. Almost three years ago, more than 11 000 readers of the BMJ voted for what they considered to be the most important medical advance in the previous 150 years. Access to clean water and sewage disposal - "the sanitary revolution" - basically cleaned up in this poll, judged the most important medical achievement, over such obvious breakthroughs as antibiotics, anesthesia and vaccines. Perhaps attention to this vital health priority, led by Canada's medical community, would put some appropriate pressure on our politicians to "Catch the Sanitation Wave" and devote more of our collective wealth toward these flushable solutions. CMAJ has a track record of publicizing those in the medical community and society who are already doing incredibly valuable medical work overseas, so motivating Canada's medical professionals to be lobbyists for the latrine doesn't seem such a huge stretch.