India's national cleanliness programme, Swachh Bharat Mission has saved roughly 60,000-70,000 infant deaths every year, according to a study. A team, including researchers from the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute, went through the 20 years data from nationally representative surveys covering 35 states/Union territories and over 600 districts.
The study, which is published in the journal Scientific Reports, analysed the link between an increase in access to toilet, built under the Swachh Bharat Mission, and reduction in infant and children mortality aged under five from 2000 to 2020. The results revealed that on average, improving district-level toilet access by 10 percentage points corresponded to a lowering of death rates in infants by 0.9 points and in children under 5 years of age by 1.1 points.
According to the author of the report, historically having access to a toilet and deaths among children have been inversely related in India, means more access to toilets results in lower mortalities. The report further revealed that improving toilet coverage by 30 per cent and above in a district corresponded with substantial reductions in infant and children deaths.
The author wrote, "In absolute numbers, this coefficient would scale to an estimated 60,000-70,000 infant lives annually." According to the researchers, the "novel evidence" of infant and child mortality reduction, potentially indicated at the transformative role of national sanitation program - Swachh Bharat Mission.
Study urges other nations to follow similar approach
The authors called upon other low and middle income countries to adopt similar transformative approach. They wrote, "Our findings add to the growing body of evidence linking national sanitation campaigns to improved child health outcomes and emphasizes the need for similar interventions in other low- and middle-income countries."
They said that studies have also shown local authorities to resort to coercive measures and discrimination to meet campaign targets, which have violated individuals' rights, particularly those of manual scavengers and people from lower-caste. "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 hygiene-related behaviour change," the authors wrote.
12 crore toilets built
According to a statement by Union minister Hardeep Puri, almost 12 crore toilets across rural and urban India had been built in the last nine years till July 2024. United Nations has also acknowledged the campaign progress. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs said that 50 crore people across 6.3 lakh villages were benefitted by 2019.
(With PTI Inputs)
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