Poo jokes garner attention to a deadly condition

"How do you solve a problem like diarrhea?" (Think Sound of Music here) is the question being asked at a controversial awards ceremony where they will be handing out the "Golden Poo" awards. Yes, there will be trophies shaped like little golden turds, as well as comedy and short films with clever plays on words like the opening question. Now, one might wonder just why the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine would be the sponsors of such an irreverent evening. It is to bring to the public's attention the devastating damage that diarrhea can have in the "third world" countries that have poor hygiene practices and rampant starvation. We might laugh at the jokes, but the one million children that die each year from diarrheal diseases, can't even cry about the enormity of this situation because their bodies are too dehydrated to shed a tear.

It would seem that just trying to educate the public about the toll that diarrhea has on developing countries is not enough. But once someone does something controversial, then the attention can be pointed in the direction it needs to be. Those of us in large, developed countries just don't have any idea just how devastating this symptom can be. For us it is just an inconvenience, but for a million children a year, it is deadly serious.



I admit that it took a bit for me to get the joke at the start of this article. And I also admit that to me, diarrhea has been just an inconvenience. I am blessed to have Pedialyte and Gatorade and Imodium AD, and clean drinking water and even a toilet. Now I have a better idea just how blessed I am. I had no idea that a million children die each year from something so preventable. Clean drinking water, hand washing, good hygiene and some kind of an electrolyte solution could drastically change the death toll numbers. I applaud the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for taking the risk that they have in doing this award show. By being as edgy as they are, they are bringing the attention to the problem. And Education follows attention. Just look what happened when I noticed the "poo joke" that got me to read this article.