ANU students launch ODF campaign in slum

Residents sensitised on health hazards, including diarrhoea

Reaching out: ANU NSS volunteers spreading awareness on individual sanitary latrines, in Ongole on Monday.

National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of the Acharya Nagarjuna University P.G. Campus here on Monday spread awareness among slum dwellers against open defecation.

Led by Social Work Department associate professor and NSS programme officer Harsha Preetam Dev, the volunteers explained Pragati Colony residents the health benefits of individual sanitary latrines (ISLs).

Open defecation was the cause of many ailments including diarrhoea, worm infections, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis and polio, they said. At the behest of ANU P.G.Campus special officer D. Somasekara, they took a vow to achieve the open defecation free status ahead of 2019, the deadline set by the Union government.