BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government faces a near impossible task in making the State open defecation free by 2019, Unicef’s Regional director for South Asia Karin Hulshof said here on Thursday.
Only one in nine persons in the State uses a toilet while only around 86 per cent of rural households do not have a toilet in their homes. To achieve its target of totally eliminating open defecation in the State by 2019, the Government has to build at least 15 lakh toilets every year over next three years.
“This is an almost impossible proposition but can be achieved only if people themselves adopt toilets in their everyday living. They have to be convinced and motivated to inculcate toilets as an integral part of the households. While developing physical infrastructure, efforts should be made to change the mindset of people by emphasising dignity, privacy and security, particularly of women, apart from focusing only on negative health impact,” Hulshof told mediapersons at the end of her three-day visit to the State.
Linking open defecation directly to poor nutritional status of children, the Unicef official has also called upon Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to set up a Nutrition Mission to tackle the problem in the State.
Despite implementation of numerous programmes for addressing nutritional issues of children, the improvement has not been as stated. One in three children under the age of five in the State continues to suffer from stunting while nearly 28 per cent of children in 0-6 years are underweight.
The Mission approach would give a focused direction to interventions aimed at improving the nutritional status among children and mothers. It would lead to development of empowered strategies for dealing with the problem more effectively.
“In India, when something goes on Mission mode, it gains impetus through focused implementation, monitoring and accountability towards achieving the goals. Nutrition Missions have been set up in other States like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh with very encouraging results,” Hulshof said
The Unicef representative, however, said Odisha has been advancing despite many challenges. There has been better implementation along with more financial investment but slow rate of improvement continues to be the missing link. There has to be greater focus on quality service delivery and involving grassroots bodies in social sector to bring in accountability.
