This story appears in the August 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.
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- Magazine
- Feature
Nearly a Billion People Still Defecate Outdoors. Here’s Why.
The problem isn’t just a lack of toilets—it’s a lack of toilets that people want to use. The result: millions of deaths and disease-stunted lives.
India
A farmer in Peepli Khera heads into a sugarcane field to defecate, carrying a container of water to rinse with. In his village, north of Delhi, only one family has a toilet. The others go in the fields—men on one side of the village, women on the other.
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