Women's health outcomes in India are generally much worse than in comparator countries, despite two decades of very rapid growth in India. There are several senses in which the health of women and girls can be considered as the basic indicators for the health of a society. Precisely because of gender discrimination, the health conditions of females generally tend to lag behind those of males, and therefore absolute improvement in these conditions is a reasonable indicator that the overall health conditions of that society are also getting better.

Bhopal, Nov 18, 2011: WaterAid India along with civil society organization – Popultion Foundation of India (PFI), Arushi, Aarambh, Samarthan, Bachpan, Sightsavers, joined organizations from across the globe as they host public hearing in Bhopal to demand government action on the world water and sanitation crisis as part of World Toilet Day, 19 November 2011.

Ho Chi Minh, Nov 14, 2011: With 2.6 billion people across the world without access to clean toilets, Unilever is proud to announce the world's first Toilet Academy that will address the global sanitation issue.

Earning about US$ 150 a month, 60 girls  aged between 16 and 22, are manufacturing sanitary pads for women living in refugee camps in Galkayo, central Somalia, IRIN reports.

The girls are enrolled at the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development (GECPD) and the sanitary pad project, which started in 2009,  is supported by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, UNICEF and other partners.

New Delhi, Oct. 30: Over 50% of cities in a dozen major Indian states do not have access to either piped water supply or sewerage system, a consequence of infrastructure not keeping pace with India’s urban population that grew from 27% in 2001 to 31% in 2011, a government survey has found.

The total number of pregnant women registered in Mother & Child Tracking System(MCTS), an e-governance initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has crossed the one crore mark on 28 October, 2011.

In the wake of Global Handwashing Day, the Hygiene Council has released more findings from its international HABIT Study (Hygiene: Attitudes, Behavior, Insight and Traits). Below are charts comparing handwashing and household hygiene scores for 12 countries. Read More

According to the United Nations, about 2.6 billion people on Earth go without access to sanitary toilet and sewage facilities. In many cases, people still practice "open defecation," or going in the bush near villages. This practice can be deadly, as bacteria from excrement often get tracked back into the community, contaminating water supplies and spreading disease.

At the end of this month, the world's population will cross the 7 billion mark and continue to climb. Over the last five weeks, Global Pulse interviewed several world leaders about how to slow this explosive growth.

Hyderabad, Oct. 20: More than half of the 80,000 government schools in the state have no toilets, and where they exist, they are in bad shape. In every fourth government high school, girls have to share toilets with boys. As a result of this neglect, girl students suffer from several avoidable health problems. With the Supreme Court directing all state governments to provide toilets in all government schools by December 31, work will have to be done on an emergency footing to meet the deadline.