A rapid appraisal of total sanitation campaign in selected districts of Madhya Pradesh

Background: The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), the flagship sanitation program launched by Government of India, is to cover all households with water and sanitation facilities, and promote hygienic behaviour for overall improvement of health of the rural population, so as to reach the Millennium Development Goals. But this program has not yet achieved its set targets. Aims & Objectives: To study the implementation status of TSC and utilization of sanitary services. Materials and Methods: It was a comparative cross sectional study, in which, house to house survey was conducted in selected districts of Madhya Pradesh, to assess the coverage and usage of toilets in study population. Results: In this study, 100% households had access to individual, community or shared toilets but only around 81.56% were using toilets. Main reason for toilet construction was government provided subsidy. Most people used public hand pumps for drinking & using water. Lack of resources combined with negligence by the Sarpanch/ Panchayat members in not constructing an individual household latrine was also found. Non-functionality of toilets in school was due to lack of water and the toilets too were not clean. The disposal of solid waste was either in the form of dumping and indiscriminate throwing. Conclusion: The progress of TSC in the State has been quite encouraging with an increase in NGP awardees. Keeping in view the current increase in demand for sanitation services, it is anticipated that the state will achieve full sanitation coverage in near future.