WaterAid on Thursday said if all the people waiting to have a toilet in their homes in India were to form a queue, the line would have 774 million people and stretch to the moon.
The non-profit group said in a report released on the eve of the UN World Toilet Day on Thursday.
The study titled “It’s No Jok’’: The State of the World’s Toilets 2015 highlights health problems faced by 2.3 billion people across the world
who do not have access to safe private toilets.
The group stated that “diarrhoea is one of the three most common killers of young children globally, along with pneumonia and malaria.
“Most of these deaths, 58 per cent of them could be prevented by clean water, sanitation and good hygiene, including handwashing with soap.’’
Cities in India were growing at an incredible pace and unofficial, subserviced slums, combined with cultural preferences for defecation in open spaces, meant the country had 774 million people now waiting for household toilets.
The resulting health crisis was serious with over 140,000 children younger than 5 years dying each year in India from diarrhoea, 40 per cent of all children having stunted growth and high rates of maternal and newborn mortality.
The report also ranked India first among countries having the most 173 people defecating in the open per square kilometre.
“That ratio will be the same as 500 people having to defecate in the open in the Square Mile of the City of London, or 15,000 people in Manhattan, New York City.
“Open defecation leaves communities filthy and children ill and undernourished,’’ WaterAid said.
It noted that Haiti, with a geographical area about one per cent of that of India, was runner-up with 72 people defecating in a one-square kilometre area.
South Sudan and Niger were also among the 10 worst places in the world without toilets. (dpa/NAN)
