Every year, World Toilet Day is observed to raise awareness about the global sanitation crisis and encourage action to solve it. The goal set by the United Nation is to achieve safe toilets for all by 2023, as a part of their Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN also states that 3.5 billion people live without proper sanitation and many children also lose their lives due to poor sanitation and unsafe water. This is why World Toilet Day is observed to raise awareness on this issue.

Theme

This year, the theme for World Toilet Day 2024 is "Toilets - A Place for Peace'. This focuses on the growing threat to sanitation that is caused by conflict, climate change, disaster and neglect. When there is a threat to using toilets, it can lead to many health risks.

Not using toilets for too long may lead to Urinary Tract Infection or UTI. For many who do not have access to clean toilets do not drink enough liquid or hold pee for too long. Doctors suggest that holding in pee for too long can cause bacteria to multiply and lead to UTI. By not drinking enough water, your bladder fails to tell the body to pee often, and can cause the bacteria to spread through the urinary tract, which can lead to infection.

Symptoms of UTI:

• Burning or stinging feeling while urinating
• Pain in pelvis or lower abdomen
• Constant urge to empty the bladder
• Strong or foul smelling urine
• Consistently dark urine
• Blood in urine

Holding in pee for too long can also cause your bladder to stretch, making it difficult or even impossible for the bladder to contract and release pee normally. It can also damage your pelvic floor muscles or could lead to kidney stones.

World Toilet Day History And Significance

To prevent such conditions, it is important that everyone has access to clean and safe toilets. In terms of history, the day was established in 2001, by the World Toilet Organization (WTO), which was founded by Jack Sim. However, it was officially recognised by the UN in 2013. The Government of Singapore worked with WTO to create the first UN resolution called Sanitation for All.

India too promotes safe and hygiene toilet through its Swachh Bharat Yojna.

Researchers in the Netherlands are exploring a possibility to reach into remote, difficult areas in the brain without an open surgery. They have developed a tiny, screw-shaped robot that can move through brain tissue under the control of a magnet placed outside the body.

The method is yet to be tested on humans. They used sheep brain tissue, including a model in which blood was pumped through the brain's vessels to more closely mimic a living brain.

In laboratory experiments, the robot successfully travelled through real sheep brain tissue, offering an early glimpse of a less invasive way to reach areas that are difficult to access with conventional surgery.

The technology could eventually be useful to treat deep brain tumours, blood clots following stroke and vascular abnormalities.

How Does The Tiny Robot Work?

Scientists have made the robot in a spiral, screw-like shape. It does not have a conventional motor inside it. Instead, researchers control it using a rotating magnetic field generated outside the body. As the magnet rotates, the robot moves with it. Its screw-shaped body converts that rotation into forward movement, allowing it to drill its way through soft brain tissue.

The researchers also created a mathematical model to predict when the robot could lose synchronisation with the magnetic field. Simply making the magnet spin faster does not mean the robot will keep moving faster.

“Push a magnetic robot too fast and it simply stops listening to the magnet,” said Ewout Ligtenberg, first author of the study. He added, “We can now predict exactly when that happens, for any tissue, from a single test. That takes out a lot of guesswork when designing robots for the brain.”

Also read: Fifth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction: What the 3 New Heart Attack Categories Mean

Navigating Inside A Brain Is Not Easy

One of the biggest challenges of brain surgery is that is that brain tissue is soft, delicate and mechanically complex. The researchers initially tested their robot in gelatin before moving to actual sheep brain tissue.

In the sheep tissue, the robot remained synchronised with the magnetic field up to about 1.8 rotations per second when there was no blood flow. But once blood was pumped through the vessels, it fell to below 0.45 rotations per second. In other words, making the conditions that resemble a living brain made the robot harder to control.

The robot moved through the brain tissue at around 0.2 millimetres per second. When researchers reversed it, it was able to travel back through the pathway it had already created much faster, at about 2.9 millimetres per second.

Also read: New AI Tool Reads ECG In 2 Seconds, Detects Up To 90% Of Heart Valve Disease Cases

This May Help With Brain Lesions

The technology may have applications in treating brain lesions as some lesions sit deep inside the brain, where reaching them can mean passing through healthy tissue or opening the skull.

The researchers are look for a futuristic approach in which the tiny robot could potentially be guided through blood vessels to a location near the target, pass through the artery wall and then travel through brain tissue towards the lesion.

The robot has not been used to treat a brain tumour, remove a clot or operate on a person. Despite promising outcome, there are still major questions around safety, navigation, bleeding, tissue damage.

Triple-negative breast cancer is notorious as it can respond to chemotherapy initially, only for some cancer cells to adapt, survive and eventually become resistant to treatment. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Hollings Cancer Center may have found a way to turn that against the tumour's nature.

In a new study published in Cell Reports Medicine, scientists used a two-step drug strategy that first weakened drug-resistant cancer cells and then blocked the backup system they turned to for survival.

Marking a breakthrough, the combination significantly slowed tumour growth in several models of triple-negative breast cancer, including the ones made from patients whose tumours had stopped responding to chemotherapy treatment.

An important thing to note is that this is still laboratory and preclinical research and not a treatment that is readily available to patients.

How Does The Two-Step Drug Strategy Work?

Also read: Mystery Behind Rare Cancer Cluster In California Community Deepens After 20-YO Warning Emerges: What Is Ewing Sarcoma?

First Step:

The researchers mainly focused on a protein called lysyl oxidase, or LOX. LOX has always been studied for its role outside cancer cells, where it can make it easier for cancer to spread by altering the tissue around the tumour.

But the research team found that LOX has another job inside triple-negative breast cancer cells. It helps them produce energy, maintain healthy mitochondria and cope with cellular stress. Blocking LOX therefore cancer cells from spreading.

Burge Ulukan, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow and co-first author of the study, “LOX helps cancer cells keep multiple survival systems running. When we blocked LOX, the cancer cells lost that advantage." He added, “When we inhibit it, we are inhibiting multiple arms. We're disrupting cells' energy production and making them much more vulnerable to treatment.”

But the researchers observed that the instead of simply dying, the cancer cells adapted again after LOX was blocked.

Second Step:

Also read:

The next step in the strategy is blocking the cancer's backup route. Once LOX was blocked, the cancer cells became increasingly dependent on another protein called DHODH, which gave the scientists with an even better second target.

They paired an experimental drug used to block LOX with leflunomide, an FDA-approved drug that blocks DHODH. Together, the drugs pushed the cancer cells towards ferroptosis, a form of cell death caused by damaging molecules building up inside the cell.

The combination significantly blocked tumour growth across several models and performed better than the LOX inhibitor combined with standard chemotherapy. The researchers reported no major weight loss or signs of kidney or liver toxicity in the models tested.

Ozgur Sahin, PhD, co-leader of the Hollings Cancer Biology and Immunology Research Program, described the strategy as, “It's a one-two-punch approach. First, we block LOX, which weakens the cancer cells. As they adapt and become dependent on a backup survival pathway, we deliver the second punch by blocking that pathway, too.”

Why Triple-Negative Breast Cancers Are Challenging To Treat?

Triple-negative breast cancer gets its name as its cells lack three common treatment targets: oestrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and HER2. This leaves doctors with fewer targeted treatment options than they have for some other breast cancers.

Chemotherapy remains an important treatment, but resistance can develop quickly. Sahin said, “Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive, deadliest versions of breast cancer. Chemotherapy is really the mainstay, and interestingly, this subtype is sensitive to chemotherapy compared to others, but resistance develops quite quickly.”

Till now, the findings have been demonstrated in labs and preclinical models. The researchers are now developing a newer version of their drug to trap LOX to prepare for human testing.

India is moving closer to its goal of eliminating malaria by 2030. Between 2022 to 2025, 160 districts across the country reported zero indigenous malaria cases, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The country has also saw nearly 80% decline in malaria cases and deaths between 2015 and 2025. The number of districts with high malaria burden also went down from 155 to 33.

The latest figures were discussed at a review meeting chaired by Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission, with officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC), states and affected districts.

160 Districts Reported Zero Malaria Cases In Last 3 Years

160 districts reported zero indigenous malaria cases from 2022 to 2025. This is significant as it suggests that local transmission was successfully interrupted in these regions.

But zero reported cases does not mean the risk has vanished completely. Malaria can return when mosquitoes, infected people or favourable environmental conditions fuel transmission. To avoid this, health authorities are vigilantly continuing surveillance even in areas that have made substantial progress.

The government said the reduction in numbers reflects the positive impact of focused malaria control and elimination initiatives and strategies. According to PIB, It including surveillance, early diagnosis, treatment and control measures for vector-borne infections.

Also read: Malaria Alert in Germany: Frankfurt Airport Worker Dies After ‘Mosquito Arrives On Plane’; 5 Infected

Strategies Needed For Malaria Elimination

Patnaik stressed that India cannot rely on a one-size-fits-all approach as it moves towards elimination. He said, “Focused, area-specific strategies and strengthened surveillance are essential to accelerate India’s progress towards malaria elimination by 2030.”

The Health Ministry has identified 33 high-burden districts across nine states and Union Territories for particularly intensive action. These districts accounted for 64% of India's malaria cases and 54% of malaria deaths in 2025.

The states and UTs reviewed included Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

Despite the overall decline, malaria deaths continue to occur, and authorities highlighted that delays in diagnosis and treatment are the primary driving factors.

The government has asked states to strengthen the “Test, Treat and Track” strategy, improve active surveillance and ensure that diagnostic tests and anti-malarial medicines remain available, particularly in remote areas.

Also read: World Mosquito Day: How Dengue Can Damage Your Kidneys

The Real Challenge For India

Malaria is transmitted through the bite of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasite enters the bloodstream and can cause fever, chills, headache and body aches. In severe cases, it can affect the brain and other organs and become life-threatening.

The challenge for India now is not simply reducing cases, but preventing malaria from coming back in districts where transmission has become zero.

Patnaik stressed, “Health interventions alone cannot address several factors contributing to malaria transmission, including water-logging, source reduction and environmental management.”

The government has therefore called for greater coordination with rural and urban development departments, Panchayati Raj institutions and local communities to identify breeding sites and report suspected cases early.