Of the one billion defecating in the open globally 66% live in India, of which 92% live in rural areas. Despite concerted government efforts for the last three decades to promote sanitation, India continues to lag behind in terms of access to basic sanitation facilities. Odisha in eastern India, is among the lowest performing states in terms of toilet coverage, and recent evidence shows that open defecation is high in the state. Even among households who have toilets, many do not use them.
The paper titled 'Socio-cultural and behavioural factors constraining latrine adoption in rural coastal Odisha: An exploratory qualitative study' published in the journal BMC Public Health, presents the findings of a study undertaken to understand the reasons for low latrine uptake and identify factors that motivate and constrain latrine use with regard to government subsidised facilities in Odisha.
The study was carried out across rural villages in Odisha and qualitative methods were used to explore and develop an in-depth understanding of different factors responsible for low adoption of latrines. People who owned one of the three types of latrine facilities namely, self-financed, GOI subsidised with improvements financed privately by the household, and GOI subsidised latrines constructed without further improvement were selected and interviewed.
It was found that even where people had an option to use a household latrine, many were reluctant to use them and chose to continue to defecate in the open. Government subsidised latrines facilitated by NGOs under the Total Sanitation Campaign largely remained unused, and even villages officially attaining Open Defecation Free (ODF) status were not open defecation free.
The findings reveal that poor quality and inappropriate latrine designs under government sanitation schemes are important factors, but are not the only reasons for low latrine uptake and use. A number of behavioural aspects constrain the adoption and use of latrines and these vary among communities by gender, age and caste. Any future sanitation intervention needs to consider these aspects and approach the issue of sanitation behaviour change holistically, rather than focusing on targets.
Lead image source: Sourabh Phadke in CONRADIN, K., KROPAC, M., SPUHLER, D. (Eds.) (2010): The SSWM Toolbox. Basel: seecon international gmbh. URL: http://www.sswm.info
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