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Title: Sanitation can improve early cognitive development: World Bank
Source:Mint
Date:20 November 2013

Access to improved sanitation can increase cognition in children, according to a new World Bank study that observed India’s efforts to combat open defecation. Fifty three percent of Indian households, around 600 million people, defecate in the open without using a toilet or latrine, according to a 2012 report by the World Health Organization and UN Children’s Fund. The study looked at the effects on childhood cognitive achievement of early life exposure to India’s TSC (Total Sanitation Campaign), a national-scale government programme that encouraged local governments to build and promote the use of inexpensive pit latrines from 2001 to 2012. Currently, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide lack access to toilets, and a billion people defecate in the open. The paper estimates the effect of the TSC on Indian children’s cognitive skills by matching test score data on six year olds’ academic achievements with government data on TSC programme intensity early in their lives, focusing on the first three years of the implementation between 2001 to 2003.




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