Smart Sanitation and Real Time Disease Detection

We live at a fascinating time in global health history. The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) has led to new technologies and the democratization of innovation; subsequently, society is witnessing massive disruption of our designed and built world. As a result, there is potential for positive change in the global health sector with artificial intelligence (AI) opportunities to transform healthcare services in resource-poor settings and support from the World Health Organization (WHO) in advocating for “how digital technologies could be integrated into existing health systems infrastructures and regulation”.

Simultaneously, the past decade has seen the emergence of public health emergencies. These health threats are of particular importance in light of the recent rise of antimicrobial resistance, climate change migration, and overall population globalization trends. The United Nation’s 6th Sustainable Development goal, which was created in response to the 4.5 billion people that lack safely managed sanitation and seeks to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030, relates directly to these increasing health threats as poor sanitation infrastructure and waste management systems further spreads infectious diseases.

By effectively wielding the technologies afforded to us by the 4IR in the sanitation sector, such as using biosensors that can measure multiple health indicators in public sewers and toilets, we are looking at a new wave of real-time disease surveillance technologies that have the potential of utilizing Big Health Data to advance the Global Health Security Agenda , while creating new ways to save money and improve operations of public toilet facilities.

According to the Toilet Board Coalition, “Smart Sanitation is a new way of looking at sanitation designed for cost recovery, revenue generating business opportunities and future system resilience.” In fact, the Smart Sanitation Economy is estimated to be a $6 billion market by 2021. Specifically in emerging markets, this reality makes the case for the use of these technological opportunities to leapfrog infrastructure development to build more resilient populations and health systems.

Smart Sanitation Economy, Toilet Board Coalition

Global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) ventures have begun integrating digitization into their product and service R&D. Some examples include:

• MIT’s ‘sewer-scouring’ robot and terMITes, or ambient air quality sensors.
• Garv’s community toilet systems that are equipped with smart sensors that enables self-cleaning and maintenance
• Wish for WASH’s use of CNC machining technologies to rapidly deploy and test new toilet designs in resource constrained areas
• Kimberly Clark’s Onvation, which is an IoT-connected smart restroom management system that allows property managers to remotely monitor conditions in their facilities
• NextGen Jane’s Smart tampon, which looks at genomic signals from the cells in a tampon to discover early signs of disease
• Pune, the world’s first Smart Sanitation City

These are some existing examples which are just beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible within the Smart Sanitation Economy. As these digitized sanitation-related products and services are further developed, the prospect of harnessing them more comprehensively to ‘prevent, detect and respond’ to the world’s global health threats in a safe, inclusive and secure manner becomes increasingly possible.

Wish for WASH toilet CNC prototyping process

I believe that an enabling environment including internationally executed standards, multisectoral representation and cross-cultural governance should be created to work towards effectively operationalizing this opportunity to eliminate future global health threats. As an OYW Ambassador, Atlanta Global Shaper, and Women Deliver Young Leader, I believe that this formative work must have a social inclusion agenda that incorporates the voices of marginalized communities to intentionally work against the likes of AI and machine learning bias.

Smart Sanitation offers an exciting juxtaposition of powerful technological advancements, cost savings, and global health disease surveillance tools that will be held to the growing data privacy and protection global standards. Ultimately, the tools of the 4IR have ‘grown-up’ alongside the millennial workforce and its young leaders; personally, I am excited to be a blossoming, millennial, thought-leader working with my colleagues towards an inclusive, ethical, and sustainable reality where things like smart sanitation cities and smart toilet technologies will be possible to equitably improve the human condition in our rapidly changing world.

Originally published at https://www.weflive.com on January 22, 2019.