Coimbatore, Nov. 19: India leads the top 10 worst countries for access to basic sanitation at 732 million, says ‘Out of Order: The State of the World’s Toilets 2017’, a report by WaterAid.
The report adds that India, “the world’s second largest country by population, once again comes out top for the highest number of people without basic sanitation”.
In second place is China at 343 million, and Nigeria at 122 million takes the third place.
The report was released ahead of the World Toilet Day that falls on November 19 by WaterAid, “an international organisation whose mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene”. It works in 38 countries.
In very clear terms it points out that in India, “a staggering 355 million women and girls are still waiting for a toilet. If they were all to stand in a queue, it would stretch around the Earth more than four times !”
There has undoubtedly been immense progress made in improving access to sanitation by working with the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission - with 52 million household toilets built between October 2014 and November 2017, according to Government data. India also ranks in the top 10 for reducing open defecation and improving access to basic sanitation. But there is still a long way to go, the report adds.
Conceding that reaching all 1.28 billion in India with basic services is a huge challenge, it adds “but change is happening”. The Indian Government has a target of eliminating open defecation by the end of 2019, which has made toilets front-page news.
It also mentions that WaterAid has helped 11.71 lakh people in India get decent toilets in the last year, by working with the Swachh Bharat Mission.
However, the work is far from done, and the need stretches beyond households to schools and hospitals. According to the World Health Organisation two in five health centres lack basic sanitation, putting patients and health workers at risk of infection.
As per the report, the 732 million people lacking decent toilets made for 56 per cent of the total population. In addition to this alarming figure, there are 60,700 children under the age of five who die each year from related diarrhoeal diseases. Forty per cent of people practised open defecation and 39 per cent children under five were stunted.