The overlooked sanitation challenge: where do children’s feces go?
Published in Research Data, Sustainability, and Public Health
Over the last decade, India has made remarkable progress in improving sanitation. With the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, millions of household toilets were constructed across the country. As a result, open defecation among adults has declined substantially and more families now have access to improved sanitation facilities.
But an important question often goes unnoticed: what happens to the feces of young children?
Many people assume that children’s feces are harmless. In reality, they can carry dangerous germs that spread diarrheal diseases and other infections. “Unsafe disposal” happens when a child’s feces are left in the open, thrown into garbage, or washed into drains instead of being disposed of in a toilet or latrine.
Our recent research, published in BMC Public Health, examined these practices across 707 districts in India using national survey data. The findings show that the problem is not evenly spread across the country. Around 177 districts emerged as hotspot areas, where unsafe disposal of children’s feces is particularly common. Many of these districts are located in central and eastern India.
The study also found that unsafe practices are more common among poorer households, families with limited education, and those without reliable sanitation facilities.
India’s sanitation mission has made impressive progress in reducing adult open defecation. However, safe disposal of children’s feces has not received the same attention. Addressing this gap is important because improving sanitation is not only about building toilets—it is also about ensuring safe hygiene practices for every member of the household, including young children.
I hold PhD in Population Studies and currently serve as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Population Sciences. My research interests span public health, sexual and reproductive health, and elderly health from a social science perspective. Additionally, I focus on gender-based discrimination, spatial health inequalities, migration and health, and environmental health impacts. I have published over thirty research papers and have presented at more than a dozen national and international seminars and workshops, which have enriched my multidisciplinary approach to research and policy formulation.
Follow the Topic
-
BMC Public Health
An open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on the epidemiology of disease and the understanding of all aspects of public health.
What are SDG Topics?
An introduction to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Topics and their role in highlighting sustainable development research.
Continue reading announcementRelated Collections
With Collections, you can get published faster and increase your visibility.
Appropriate use of antibiotics: public health strategies, knowledge, and practice gaps
BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on Appropriate use of antibiotics: public health strategies, knowledge, and practice gaps.
Misuse of antibiotics contributes to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), posing a threat to the future management of bacterial diseases. However, it is a multi-faceted problem without a simple solution.
Antibiotic misuse can take various forms, each requiring different strategies to address. In healthcare systems, antibiotic overuse is often driven by the tension between clinical uncertainty and the desire to offer patients a treatment that may improve their symptoms or prevent them from developing complications. The prescription of antibiotics is often done empirically, driven by the difficulty of distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections at the point of care, or the worry that a lack of intervention could have consequences.
Added to this, people in the community can contribute to inappropriate use by reusing or sharing leftover antibiotics from prior prescriptions. Similarly, misplaced expectations around the benefits of antibiotics can drive misuse in the community, pointing to the need for community-focused and community-led initiatives to inform the public on the use of antibiotics and the collective impact of antimicrobial resistance.
However, social science reframes antibiotic overuse as more than an individual behaviour problem. Antibiotics frequently act as a social and structural “quick fix” that supports care, productivity, hygiene, and coping with inequality in everyday life. They are used to compensate for gaps in water, sanitation, social protection, and health-system capacity, suggesting that interventions focusing narrowly on individual knowledge and attitudes may be unlikely to succeed unless they also address these wider drivers.
This Collection aims to explore the various dimensions of the responsible use of antibiotics, examining the prevalence of misuse and strategies for reducing unnecessary use, covering interventions aimed at prescribers and pharmacists as well as 'bottom-up' strategies such as community education campaigns. We invite contributions that investigate the roles of healthcare providers, patients, professional guidance, communities, and policymakers in addressing this pressing issue.
Potential topics for submission include, but are not limited to:
Patterns of antibiotics overuse in various populations
The role of healthcare providers in preventing misuse
Public health campaigns and gross-roots initiatives to promote responsible use of antibiotics
Policy frameworks for improving the prescribing and dispensing of antibiotics
Social and structural drivers of antibiotic use (ethnographic, anthropological, and political-economy analyses).
Interventions that address upstream determinants (water, sanitation, social protection, labour conditions) alongside stewardship measures.
This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being).
All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.
Publishing Model: Open Access
Deadline: Oct 03, 2026
Digital exclusion and health equity
Digital exclusion poses significant barriers to health equity, particularly in the context of an increasingly technology-driven healthcare landscape. Many individuals, especially from underserved communities face challenges in accessing digital health resources, including telehealth services, electronic health records, and health information online, alongside challenges from other social determinants of health. This Collection seeks to explore the intersection of digital health access and health equity, focusing on the disparities that arise from unequal access to digital tools and resources.
Addressing digital health exclusion is critical for promoting health equity and ensuring that all individuals can benefit from advancements in digital health. Recent strides in telehealth and digital health interventions have demonstrated the potential for technology to improve access to care, yet they also reveal significant disparities that must be acknowledged. By understanding the factors that contribute to eHealth disparities, we can develop targeted digital inclusion strategies that address the unique needs of diverse populations, ultimately fostering a more equitable health system.
Topics for submission include but are not limited to:
- Equitable digital health systems: policy, infrastructure, and community engagement
- Digital health access among underserved communities
- Digital literacy and health outcomes across diverse populations
- Innovations and implementation strategies for bridging digital health gaps in underserved communities
- Measuring and monitoring digital health disparities: metrics and methodologies
This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well Being) and SDG 10: (Reduced Inequalities).
All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer-review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.
Publishing Model: Open Access
Deadline: Dec 11, 2026
