Modi's flagship Swachh Bharat Mission helped avert 60-70k infant deaths a year, reveals study

PM Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on October 2, 2014. (Courtesy: PTI photo)

Swachh Bharat Mission - India's national cleanliness drive - helped save the lives of 60,000-70,000 infants every year, according to a study.

According to the study, an increase in access to toilets, constructed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship scheme Swachh Bharat Mission, led to drop in deaths among infants and children below 5 years over a period of two decades.

Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the research observed the link between an increase in access to toilet, built under the Swachh Bharat Mission, and drop in deaths among infants and children aged under five from 2000 to 2020.

The team, including researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute, US, studied data from nationally representative surveys covering 35 states/Union territories and over 600 districts over the 20-year period.

As per the research, improving toilet coverage by 30 per cent and above in a district corresponded with substantial reductions in infant and children deaths.

"In absolute numbers, this coefficient would scale to an estimated 60,000-70,000 infant lives annually," the authors of the study wrote.

The authors said the "novel evidence" of reductions in infant and child mortality, following a comprehensive national sanitation programme, potentially indicated at the transformative role of Swachh Bharat Mission.

Launched on October 2, 2014 by the Modi government, Swachh Bharat Mission is aimed at cleaning the country's streets, roads and infrastructure. One of the key objectives of the campaign is to address open defecation in villages by providing access to toilets in all rural households.

According to a statement by Union minister Hardeep Puri, almost 12 crore toilets have been constructed across rural and urban India in the last nine years.