While this practice may be satisfactory for scattered rural communities, health hazards and difficulty in finding private places make it unsuitable for communities. Affordable improvement can be achieved by digging a hole and covering the excreta, as Moses commanded the children of Israel in the Sinai desert. In some places low-income villagers set aside 'defecation fields' for open defecation. This leads to the danger of spread of hookworm unless sandals or other footwear can be afforded. Hookworm transmission can be reduced, at no cost except for labour, by forming ridges and furrows.
People defecate in the furrows and walk on the ridges .
In urban and peri-urban areas various forms of 'dry latrines' have often been considered as low cost. In terms of construction alone the expenditure is undoubtedly low, as little more than a shelter is required. A receptacle of some sort completes the initial cost. Cheap containers for faeces are common. In India baskets were once usual, and I have seen old car or lorry battery cases, paint tins and discarded cooking oil tins employed.