Total Sanitation Campaign

The Total Sanitation Campaign aims at improving the quality of life of people in rural areas through the creation of open-defecation-free and fully sanitised villages. The programme was launched in 1999. The campaign is designed as a demand-driven, community-led programme and is implemented by state governments. There is currently an emphasis on developing information, education and communication activities to improve attitudes and knowledge about how sanitation, safe water and hygiene relate to health. The campaign also acknowledges the role of subsidies in encouraging the poor to construct individual household latrines.