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Sustainable Development

Even if you build a toilet, they may not come: water expert

by The Daily Eye Team September 5 2014, 9:11 am Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 50 secs

Bangladesh and India have long tried to stop people from defecating in outdoor public places – a practice that spreads fatal diseases – but Bangladesh has had much more success than the economic giant next door in getting people to use toilets. The percentage of Bangladeshis defecating in the open dropped from 19 percent in 2000 to just 3 percent in 2012, while nearly half the India’s 1.2 billion people still resort to streets and fields as their toilet of choice.

So how did Bangladesh do it, and why India is still struggling? The key, according to World Bank water expert Junaid Ahmad, is shame. Several years ago, NGOs fanned out across Bangladesh and asked villagers to mark the outdoor public places where they were relieving themselves. They then mapped it out, showing the villagers that they were defecating right next to their homes and mosques – putting their families and neighbors at risk of serious illnesses such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid.

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