WASH and environmental health – UGC NET Question

Statements C and F are wrong, while A, B, D and E are correct. Indoor air pollution from solid fuels is a major risk factor for respiratory disease, so saying it has no effect is clearly false. Environmental health programmes routinely include behaviour change components, such as promoting handwashing and safe storage, so claiming they never consider behaviour change is also wrong. The other statements describe widely accepted WASH–health relationships. Hence, the wrong statements together are C and F.

Option A:
Option A is incorrect because it identifies only C as wrong and ignores F, which also misrepresents environmental health practice. It therefore fails to capture the full set of incorrect statements.

Option B:
Option B is incorrect since it treats D as wrong along with C, yet D correctly notes that children are more vulnerable to environmental risks due to physiology and exposure patterns. Misclassifying D undermines basic public health understanding.

Option C:
Option C is correct because it selects exactly those statements that contradict established evidence on indoor air pollution and health promotion strategies. It leaves A, B, D and E recognised as the valid foundations of WASH programming.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect as it adds A to the list of wrong statements even though A accurately describes the link between unsafe water, sanitation and diarrhoeal disease. Grouping A with C and F makes the option logically inconsistent.