Right to sanitation – a human right

Abstract

India do not have access to improved sanitation.1 It is estimated that every death out of ten in India can be attributed to poor sanitation and hygiene. The efforts to increase sanitation coverage in rural areas face the principal challenge of changing long-held open defecation behaviour. An estimated 55% of all Indians or close to 600 million people do not have access to any kind of toilet.2 In rural India, scale of the problem is particularly daunting; around 74% of rural population still defecates in open.3 The women and girls face unique cultural and biological burdens in relation to sanitation. Lack of adequate sanitation in schools is a critical impediment to school education, particularly for girls. With such stark reality, systems often continue to compromise the health, safety, and productivity of girls and women. Within this context, gender-respective sanitation interventions in rural areas have the potential to improve adoption and long-term outcomes for women and their communities through targeted implementation wherein improved sanitation facilities4 should be a priority.