Toilets for All: A Key to a Healthier India

It is estimated that 2.5 billion people around the world do not have proper sanitation, that 1.1 billion people defecate in the open and that providing toilets could save the lives of more than 200,000 children each year. Sanitation is a global development priority. Diarrhoea caused by poor sanitation and unsafe water kills 315,000 children every year.

- VINOD CHANDRASHEKHAR DIXIT

Open defecation, unlike in other places, where it has a negative connotation, here it is something that is completely normal, and even sometimes wholesome, like the fact that you have gone for a morning walk, and you have exercised your body and you have gotten up early. Lack of access to toilets has been identified as a huge problem, particularly in rural. It not only spreads diseases like diarrhea but also exposes women to the risk of sexual assault when they go into the fields after dark. Cultural norms are hard to change and according to some, open-air defecation is seen as more sanitary by those who prefer to relieve themselves in the open rather than share a toilet. Disease transmission at work mostly caused by poor sanitation and hygiene practices, causes 17% of all workplace deaths.

Public toilets with good water facility are the need of the hour. In a country like India it is very difficult and takes a long time to change the practice of open defecation in rural areas. Most of the toilets which are started for public use are being neglected by the people due to improper maintenance. It is the matter of hygiene that can attract more people to use toilet.