'Swachh Bharat' Toilets Helped Avert 70,000 Infant Deaths A Year: Study

A team, including researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute, US, looked at data from nationally representative surveys covering 35 states/Union territories and over 600 districts over 20 years.

Constructing toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission - India's national cleanliness programme - may have helped avert roughly 60,000-70,000 infant deaths every year, according to a study.

A team, including researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute, US, looked at data from nationally representative surveys covering 35 states/Union territories and over 600 districts over 20 years.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, investigated the link between an increase in access to toilets, built under the Swachh Bharat Mission, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, and a drop in deaths among infants and children aged under five from 2000 to 2020.