Think back to Study Session 1 and explain what you understand by the sanitation ladder.

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The sanitation ladder measures progress towards providing adequate sanitation facilities for every household. It ranks sanitation provision in increasing order of desirability, as listed below:

open defecation (least desirable)
unimproved facilities
shared facilities
improved facilities (most desirable).

How has the situation changed with respect to open defecation in urban areas from 1990 to 2012?

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The practice of open defecation in urban areas has reduced by

\frac{40-8}{40} \times 100 = 80 %

This is good news indeed!

Open defecation leads to the spread of disease and environmental pollution, so even the basic latrine is an improvement. The following sections of this study session describe the different types of latrine that come above open defecation on the sanitation ladder.