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Diana Yousef: from NASA consultant to inventor of a toilet that evaporates waste | This toilet – which doesn’t require water or a sewer connection – aims to solve the lack of sanitation, a problem that affects half of the world’s population, especially women and girls

This toilet – which doesn’t require water or a sewer connection – aims to solve the lack of sanitation, a problem that affects half of the world’s population, especially women and girls

Image provided by Fundación Mapfre.“When people live without access to safe sanitation, it’s very difficult for them to improve their quality of life,” Yousef tells EL PAÍS, in a video interview from her home in Boston. Her previous work with the UN — which involved searching for business models that link the private sector to the field of development — allowed her to visit countries in the Global South and learn about problems with sanitation infrastructure. Yousef estimates that the final price of the iThrone — which, in May of this year, won the MAPFRE Foundation Award for Social Innovation, in the category of Health Improvement and Digital Technology — will be around $200 per unit.

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