"Open Defecation Free(ODF): Requirement of Time"
A report by WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) (http://www.unicef.org/media/files/JMP-2010Final.pdf) says “Indians comprised 58 percent of all people who defecate in the open. Eighteen percent of urban India still defecates in the open while the percentage of rural India is as high as 69 percent.” It is scientific facts that open defecation or lack of sanitation is a major factor in causing various diseases like- diarrhea and intestinal worm infections, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, polio, trachoma and others. Those countries where open defecation is most widely practiced have the highest numbers of deaths of children under the age of five, as well as, high levels of under nutrition, high levels of poverty and huge disparities between the rich and poor. Open defecation is directly affecting the economic condition of the family as the heavy expenditure on treatment of diseases keeps people poor. It is also important to note that children