NEW DELHI: According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, 'Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin(SBM-G), a key programme of the Modi government, has performed positively since its beginning in terms of averting deaths and expansion of sanitation coverage in the country since its beginning.
Till August 2 this year, country's rural sanitation coverage has seen a remarkable escalation of 89.07 per cent through SBMG, says the report by the WHO on the health impact due to sanitation.
A total of 19 states were declared Open Defecation Free under the SBMG, including 4.9 lakh villages wherein in 7.9 crore toilets were built, said the report, prepared by the WHO for Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
The report, that was released on Friday, said that it is estimated that SBMG will result in preventing more than three lakh deaths due to diarrhoea and protein-energy malnutrition between 2014-October 2019.
As per the WHO study, before the initiation of SBM-G, unsafe sanitation was the reason behind 199 million cases of diarrhoea annually.
Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were likely to be avoided between 2014 -2018, as per the report bases on WHO's survey on children and families.