Little under a fortnight ago, a research paper published in Nature revealed that the health benefits of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) promoting saturation coverage of toilets caused a sharp decline in infant mortality. The paper estimates that around 60,000-70,000 infant lives are being saved annually because of this welfare programme, not to speak of the out-of-pocket spending by households on associated health costs.
Interesting coincidence that this acknowledgement comes on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the SBM on 2 October. To unpack the findings in the paper, StratNews Global spoke to Shamika Ravi, economist and member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.
