Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe lack of use of improved sanitation toilets is an important impediment to health outcomes, particularly among women and children. In rural India, the adoption of improved sanitation toilets has been slow, and thus improvements in health outcomes have been modest. In Chapter 1 of the dissertation, data from a nationally representative cross-section survey are analyzed to look at the association between the various socioeconomic characteristics of a household and improved sanitation toilet use. The analysis involves social institutions like religion and caste, which are inextricably linked to sanitation in India. This chapter adds to the growing literature on the determinants of toilet use and contributes to understanding the social context in which rural India is adopting improved sanitation toilets. In Chapter 2, using panel data on individual households, the impact of water being delivered inside the house/compound on improved sanitation toilet access is investigated. Contrary to the prior literature, the results show that water infrastructure is an important factor in toilet access in rural India. Households, where water is delivered inside, are 5.5 percentage points more likely to adopt improved sanitation toilets. Given water infrastructure, non-Hindu-headed households are more likely to adopt improved sanitation toilets, whereas there is a lack of heterogeneity in treatment across castes. In Chapter 3, data from rural India are analyzed to determine the association between the use of improved sanitation toilets at the individual level and the incidence of iv diarrhea among children under the age of five. Further, the association between the nonuse of improved sanitation toilets at the village level along with the role of population density on diarrhea incidence is investigated. The interaction between the nonuse of improved sanitation toilets at the village level and population density models the absolute amount of exposed fecal matter within a village. Contrary to previous research, the results show that it is the absolute amount of fecal matter that a child is exposed to that is associated with the incidence of diarrhea. This research focuses on the importance of modeling the absolute amount of infection externality as opposed to proportions of nonuse of infrastructure