By Carmen da Silva Wells Every year, diarrhoea kills more
children in developing countries than AIDS, malaria and measles
combined (Pruss-Ustun 2008). Sanitation subsidies are a common
tool used to motivate households to construct toilets. This
seems an obvious response: many who lack access to sanitation
are extremely poor and the potential public health benefits of
universal access to safe sanitation are immense. But what is a
subsidy? All programmes have some form of subsidy – so the
question is HOW to use them effectively. On the 11th of
September, IRC debated the pros and cons of sanitation
subsidies. The debate started with short presentations for and
against sanitation subsidies. After that, discussions shifted
towards a common definition of a subsidy and improvements to
ensure subsidies contribute to sustainable services. Marielle
Snel, Ingeborg Krukkert and Christine Sijbesma defended
subsidies as a way to ensure that everyone can benefit from
access to sanitation. Excluded groups including the ultra