https://www.cnet.com/news/india-spent-30-billion-to-fix-its-broken-sanitation-it-ended-up-with-more-problems/?ftag=CAD-03-10aaj8j
India is the No. 1 country in the world for open defecation, with over 344 million people without regular access to toilets in the country, according to 2017 statistics from the World Health Organization and UNICEF. If you add up Nos. 2 to 10, it still wouldn't come close to India's number, showing just how big the problem is there.
Huge strides have been made to reduce that figure through Swachh Bharat and other sanitation efforts. WHO and UNICEF report the number of people practicing open defecation was twice as high in 2000, at 764 million.
How did India become the No. 1 country for open defecation in the first place?
Overpopulation and a lack of sanitation infrastructure have contributed to this health crisis. Additionally, India has often failed to properly maintain public toilets after the're built.
Cultural behaviors play a big role too. Purity is an inherent part of toilet etiquette in India. According to common customs, toilets are often built outside the home and deemed unclean. That means many people in India still see open defecation as a more sanitary option than using a bathroom in or near the home. Because of this, even after the government builds new toilets for people, they will go unused, instead functioning as storage rooms.
"In order to change that you need to change people's behavior, and that can take quite a long time," Slaymaker added.
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