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In rural areas, lack of familiarity with new technologies is often compounded by financial constraints, making unhealthy or inefficient practices persistent-even when it comes to toilets. Upgrading to a more sanitary toilet would improve the health of many households, along with their neighbors'.
But new hardware is expensive, and the social cost of continuing to use a less sanitary toilet is not often fully understood. How can healthy changes in rural sanitation be encouraged? A recent successful effort in Viet Nam suggests that involving women is the key.
In Viet Nam's Mekong Delta, residents face an additional sanitation hurdle. Frequent flooding means that even some modern devices, such as pour-flush toilets, can pose a threat to public health. Plastic septic tanks are a safe alternative, but their advantages are not widely understood.
Also, purchasing the tank and building a superstructure requires an equivalent of nearly two months' income for the average farming household.- blog.adb.org/blogs
A version of this article appears in the print on November 19, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
