I’ve been teaching about the lack of toilets, open defecation, and adequate sanitation in India for years now, but over the pandemic, some of those articles I referenced became outdated (2016). So today I wanted to refresh my teaching materials. While the statistics have improved, it is still a serious health issue that remains a major impediment to economic and social development. The government proudly states that 100% of Indians have access to toilets, but a national survey found that 10% of the rural areas still defecate in the open (with other estimates much worse). Below are some good articles to get a sense of the current situation.

–CNET: India spent $30 billion to fix sanitation woes to mixed results

–CNN: India added 110m new toilets, but will they be used?

–BBC: Is India’s lack of toilets a cultural problem? (old article)