INDIA-HEALTH-SOCIAL-TOILETS

INDIA-HEALTH-SOCIAL-TOILETS

Indian women hold latrines as they participate in the opening ceremony of the three-day International Toilet Festival in New Delhi on November 18, 2014, the eve of World Toilet Day. UNICEF estimates that almost 594 million — or nearly 50 percent of India’s population — defecate in the open, with the situation acute in dirt-poor rural areas. Some 300 million women and girls are forced to squat outside normally under the cover of darkness, exposed not only to the risks of disease and bacterial infection, but also harassment and assault by men. AFP PHOTO/Roberto SCHMIDT