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New Delhi: Toiletries Built under Clean India Mission , IndiaThe National Sanitation Programme has helped prevent approximately 60,000-70,000 accidents. Infant mortality According to a study, food security increases by 20 per cent every year. A team, including researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute, US, studied data from nationally representative surveys covering 35 states/union territories and over 600 districts over 20 years.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, examined the relationship between increased access to toilets built under the Swachh Bharat Mission and reduction in deaths of infants and children under five years of age from 2000 to 2020.
The results showed that, on average, a 10 percentage point improvement in access to toilets at the district level reduced infant mortality by 0.9 points and under-5 mortality by 1.1 points.
Historically, there has been an inverse relationship between access to toilets and child mortality in India, the authors said.
They further found that an increase in toilet coverage by 30 per cent or more in a district led to a substantial reduction in infant and child mortality rates.
“In absolute numbers, this coefficient could reach an estimated 60,000–70,000 infant lives annually,” the authors wrote.
He said there was “new evidence” of a decline in child and adolescent mortality. child mortalityAfter a comprehensive national survey sanitation programWhich probably points towards the transformative role of Swachh Bharat Mission.
These findings are consistent with evidence from global and South Asian contexts, with several studies analysing population-level data collected through surveys indicating that improved sanitation could potentially reduce child mortality by 5-30 per cent, the researchers said.
He said recent studies have highlighted the wide-ranging benefits of increasing access to toilets, including women’s safety, financial savings due to reduced medical expenses, and overall improved quality of life.
However, the authors said that despite the benefits, inequalities in the adoption and use of toilets persist due to caste- and religion-based discriminatory practices.
“Our findings add to the growing evidence linking national sanitation campaigns to improved child health outcomes, and highlight the need for similar interventions in other low- and middle-income countries,” the authors wrote.
He said studies have also shown that local authorities resort to coercive measures and discrimination to achieve the campaign goals, thereby violating the rights of individuals, particularly manual scavengers and lower caste people.
“These practices pose challenges to the effective and equitable implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission, and raise legitimate concerns about the long-term sustainability of sanitation-related behaviour change,” the authors wrote.
Officially launched on 2 October 2014 by the Government of India. National Campaign Its aim is to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country. One of the aims of the campaign is also to Open defecation Ensuring availability of toilets in villages by providing toilet facilities in all rural households.
According to a statement by Union Minister Hardeep Puri, by July 2024, around 12 crore toilets have been built in rural and urban India in the last nine years.
Acknowledging the progress of the campaign, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said that by 2019, 50 crore people from 6.3 lakh villages had benefited.
Additionally, each family living in open defecation free villages – that has a toilet – saved up to Rs 50,000 every year, with the benefits to members being 4.7 times more than their costs.
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