A district-level geospatial analysis of the availability of improved water and sanitation among tribal households in India

Despite progress in Sustainable Development Goal 6, which envisages clean water and sanitation for all, enormous disparities in access to water and sanitation services between and within countries continue to be a significant challenge. Evidence on the spatial heterogeneity of water, sanitation, and hygiene practices among the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population is limited in India. This study estimates the spatial heterogeneity in ST people's access to improved water and sanitation facilities and its correlates at the district level. Geospatial techniques like Moran's I, univariate and bivariate local indicator of spatial association, and spatial regression models were carried out for 707 districts covered in the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey, 2019-21. Stata was used for descriptive analysis, and ArcMap and GeoDA were used for spatial analysis. Only about half of ST households had access to improved water and sanitation facilities in India. Spatial heterogeneity across districts was evident, with 130 districts from Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and some portion of Karnataka forming the hot spots. Gender and age of the household head, family type, and region were significantly associated with improved water and sanitation facilities among ST households.