The need for innovative solutions to thechronic lack of sanitation worldwide is immense. Of thosepeople who lack access to improved sanitation. 1.1 billionhave no facilities at all and defecate in the open. Thesesanitation shortages account for thousands of deaths daily,especially among children. Additionally, poor sanitationcosts billions of dollars in economic losses annually, ashigh as 7 percent of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP in somecountries. 'That's billions of dollars that couldeducate poor children or help build infrastructure - likeschools and roads,' said World Bank Group President JimYong Kim. Conversely, more than 6 billion people worldwidehave access to a mobile phone, including in rural and urbanareas in developing countries. The surge in mobile phones inAfrica, some 94 percent of urban Africans, for example, arenear a GSM signal, is transforming the way people completedaily tasks, from knowing when to sell farm commodities, tofinding easier ways to pay bills or send money to family andfriends. With ever increasing mobile penetration and fallingprices of smart phones, mobile applications provide aplatform to address myriad critical issues and anopportunity to solve problems in the developing world.
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