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Sanitation and hygiene are at an abysmal state within the country. The cities are expanding rapidly as urbanisation is essential for economic growth. Due to this majority of people migrate within the country for job opportunities leading to a large number of urban-dwellers who don’t have access to safe, private toilets.
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Sanitation and hygiene are at an abysmal state within the country. The cities are expanding rapidly as urbanisation is essential for economic growth. Due to this majority of people migrate within the country for job opportunities leading to a large number of urban-dwellers who don’t have access to safe, private toilets. Though the government has prioritised urban sanitation along with rural sanitation but the high population density of urban areas and lack of toilets force people to practice open defecation which causes the diseases to speedily spread due to poor hygiene.
According to the World Health Organisation, more than 600 million urbanites are put up in low-quality shelters and overcrowded areas. They do not have an adequate arrangement of sanitation services such as access to potable drinking water and hygienic waste disposal system. Regardless of the government introducing a large number of urban sanitation programme in India, the number of people who do not have access to these services is still rising. Even the land and water bodies get affected, they are polluted by more than two-thirds of wastewater which is let out untreated into the open.
The various urban sanitation programme including Swachh Bharat Mission can reap success in full participation from both men and women. Acknowledging the gendered approach and identifying the different roles of men and women can make them agents of change and improve sanitation. • By educating communities about the importance of cleanliness, one can effectively and affordably improve urban sanitation in India. • One need to move away from the traditional government supply-driven approach as it often ignores the needs of the communities and focus more on a plan that is community guided. Which are the critical core areas that need focus to create an impact on cleanliness in Urban areas?
The different slum areas and communities should be supervised, and solutions should be customised as per their requirements. The scalable aspects of the sanitation chain should be standardized, and people working for the cause should make use of existing sector knowledge to save time and efforts.
If you are a promoter of cleanliness and sanitation, a platform like India Sanitation Coalition can help you create a positive impact on the society and bring change by improving the quality of life of people. It can provide you and other stakeholders an opportunity to bring attention to the hygiene problem and achieve open-defecation free cities and villages.