India continues to be the country with the highest number of people (597 million people) practising open defecation. Where women must defecate in the open, they run the risk of sexual assault or rape.

These women and girls may be reluctant to break ... “because a village can’t become open defecation free if different sections aren’t ODF. The entire community is in it together.” ...

To discourage open defecation, senior health professionals have called on the state and local governments to make public toilets usage free of charge for the populace. They noted that the required ...

some public health physicians doubt the country’s ability to achieve open defecation-free status by 2030. In exclusive interviews with PUNCH Healthwise, the experts noted that with a quarter of ...

There would be reduced rape because women or girls that enter the bush ... “We have been able to achieve 126 open defecation-free LGAs in the country and we are working hard to ensure more ...

while male offenders walk scot-free,” she said. Saddened by the near futile efforts to reduce open defecation and its severe consequences on women in the 15 mainly nomadic pastoralist counties ...

“With 136 LGAs and an entire State (Jigawa) that has been declared Open Defecation Free, we need to re-double our efforts towards achieving our target of ending Open Defecation by 2030.

He also encouraged the states including the FCT yet to attain the open defecation free status to take deliberate measures while supporting Nigeria to attain upon defecation-free status ...