In 2003, 42 percent of Bangladeshis defecated outside. Today, that figure has shrunk to less than 1 percent. The difference stems from rising incomes plus a 13-year campaign in the South Asian nation to increase the availability of real toilets while educating Bangladeshis about the health and security dangers of doing their business outside.
"Once it was our habit to go to the fields or jungles. Now, it is shameful to us," said Begum, a woman who lives in a farming village near the capital of Bangladesh. "Even our children do not defecate openly anymore. We do not need to ask them; they do it on their own." Since installing a toilet in her house, Begum reports her children have been healthier, avoiding waterborne infections.
And children played a key role in the educational campaign, too. They were given whistles to blow if they saw someone defecating outdoors and were encouraged to yell slogans like "Defecating in the open is the enemy of the people" and "No one will marry your daughter if you do not have a toilet at home."
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